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Form  No.   471 


7 


V 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  CONGRESS 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  STATUES 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON  AND  FRANCIS  P.  BLAIR 


'RESENTED    BY 


THE  SIWTE  OF  MISSOURI. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING   OFFICE. 
I  900. 


CONXURRENT  RESOLUTION. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  {the  House  of  Representatives  coneur- 
rmg),  That  there  be  printed  and  bound  of  the  proceedings  in 
Congress  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  statues  of  the  late  Thomas 
H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  presented  by  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri, sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  copies,  of  which  five  thou- 
sand shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Senate,  ten  thousand  for  the  use 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  remaining  one  thousand 
five  hundred  shall  be  for  the  use  and  distribution  b}'  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Missouri;  and  the  Secretar}-  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby 
directed  to  have  printed  an  engraving  of  said  statues  to  accom- 
pany said  proceedings,  said  engravings  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the 
appropriation  for  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing. 

Passed  the  Senate  May  31,  1900. 

Passed  the  House  June  6,  1900. 


-V 


.ziiauaTj.tais  Kiii.i 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Proceedi}io;s  hi  tJic  House  of  Representatives 5 

Address  of  Mr.  Dockerv,  of  Missouri 7 

Clark,  of  Missouri 16 

Llovd,  of  Missouri 53 

Proceedings  in  the  Senate 73 

Address  of  INIr.  VEST,  of  Missouri 75 

COCKRELL,  of  Missouri 96 

Hoar,  of  Massachusetts 1 29 

E1.KINS,  of  West  Virginia 135 

3 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  STATUES  OF  THOMAS  H. 
BENTON  AND  FRANCIS  P.  V>IMK. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN   THE   HOUSE 


JANUARY    i8,    1899. 

Mr.  Bland.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  to  ask  unanimous  consent 
for  the  present  consideration  of  the  resokition  which  I  send  to 
the  Clerk's  desk. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  exercises  appropriate  to  Lhe  reception  and  acceptance 
from  the  State  of  Missouri  of  the  statues  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and 
Francis  P.  Blair,  erected  in  the  old  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives be  made  the  special  order  for  Saturday,  February  4,  at  3  o'clock 
p.  m. 

The  Speaker.  Is  there  objection  to  the  present  considera- 
tion of  the  resolution?  [After  a  pause.]  The  Chair  hears 
none. 

The  question  was  taken;   and  the  resolution  was  agreed  to. 

FEBRUARY    4,    1899. 

The  Speaker.   The  Clerk  will  read  the  special  order. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  exercises  appropriate  to  the  reception  and  accept- 
ance from  the  State  of  Missouri  of  the  statues  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and 
Francis  P.  Blair,  erected  in  the  old  Hall  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives, be  made  the  special  order  for  Saturday,  February  4,  at  3  o'clock 
p.  m. 

Mr.  Bland.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  ask  the  Clerk  to  read  the 
following  letter  from  the  executive  of  the  State  of  Missouri. 

5 


6        Proceedings  of  the  House  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  I'nited  States,  U^as/i- 

ington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen:  In  the  year  1895  the  general  assembly  of  the  State  of 
Missouri  passed  an  act  making  an  appropriation  to  have  statues  made  of 
Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  to  be  placed  in  Statuary 
Hall,  in  the  Capitol,  at  Washington.  In  the  act  referred  to,  William  J. 
Stone,  Odin  Guitar,  Peter  L.  Foy,  B.  B.  Cahoon,  O.  H.  Spencer,  and  James 
H.  Birch  were  constituted  a  commission  to  have  the  statues  made  and 
properly  placed.  I  am  now  informed  by  the  commissioners  that  the 
statues  are  completed  and  ready  to  be  presented  to  Congress. 

•I  have  the  honor,  therefore,  as  governor  of  Missouri,  to  present  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  through  the  Congress,  the  statues  of  the 
distinguished  statesmen  named  and  to  ask  that  they  may  be  assigned  a 
place  in  the  hall  dedicated  to  such  vises  at  the  Capitol. 
Very  respectfully, 

LON  V.  Stephens,  Governor. 

Mr.  Bland.   Mr.  Speaker,   I  offer  the  following   resolution. 
The  Speaker.   The  gentleman  from  Missouri  offers  the  fol- 
lowing resolution,  which  will  be  read  by  the  Clerk. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  {the  Senate  concurring).  That 
the  thanks  of  Congress  be  presented  to  the  State  of  Missouri  for  providing 
and  furnishing  statues  of  Thomas  Hart  Benton,  a  deceased  person,  who 
has  been  a  citizen  thereof  and  illustrious  for  his  historic  renown  and  for 
distinguished  civic  services,  and  of  Francis  Preston  Bl.\ir,  a  deceased 
person,  who  has  been  a  citizen  thereof,  and  illustrious  for  his  historic 
renown  and  for  distinguished  civic  and  military  services. 

Resolved,  That  the  statues  be  accepted  and  placed  in  the  National  Stat- 
uary Hall  in  the  Capitol,  and  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  duly  authen- 
ticated be  transmitted  to  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Bland.  Mr.  Speaker,  there  are  some  gentlemen  present, 
and  others  absent,  who  wash  to  print  remarks  in  the  Record  on 
the  subject  of  the  resolution,  and  I  therefore  ask  unanimous 
consent  of  the  House  that  they  have  leave  to  do  so. 

The  vSpkakkr.  The  gentleman  from  Missouri  a.sks  unani- 
mous consent  that  members  may  be  allowed  to  print  in  the 
Record  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the  resolution.  Is  there 
objection?      [After  a  pause.]      The  Chair  hears  none. 


Statues  of  TJiomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair 


ADDRESS  OF  MR,  DOCKERY,  OF  MISSOURI, 
Mr.  Speaker,  Congress  having  by  the  act  of  July  2,  1864, 
in\-ited  each  of  the  States  to  present  statues,  not  exceeding  two 
in  number,  in  iHarble  or  bronze,  of  deceased  persons  who  have 
been  distinguished  citizens,  and  who,  on  account  of  civil  or 
military  services,  are  deemed  worthy  of  national  commemora- 
tion in  Statuary  Hall  in  the  National  Capitol,  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri, in  the  fullness  of  time,  has  availed  herself  of  the  invita- 
tion, and  has  presented  the  two  marble  statues  which  we 
to-day  formally  accept  on  behalf  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Various  other  States  of  the  Union  have  already  presented, 
from  time  to  time,  statues  of  their  distinguished  departed  sons: 
Virginia,  one,  of  George  Washington;  Massachusetts,  two,  of 
Samuel  Adams  and  John  Winthrop;  Connecticut,  of  Roger 
Sherman  and  Jonathan  Trumbull;  Rhode  Island,  of  Nathanael 
Greene  and  Roger  Williams;  Vermont,  of  Ethan  Allen  and 
Jacob  Collamer;  New  Hampshire,  of  Daniel  Webster  and  John 
Stark;  Maine,  of  William  King;  New  York,  of  George  CHnton 
and  Robert  R.  Livingston;  Pennsylvania,  of  John  P.  G.  Muhlen- 
berg and  Robert  Fulton;  New  Jersey,  of  Richard  Stockton  and 
Philip  Kearny;  Ohio,  of  James  A.  Garfield  and  William  Allen; 
Illinois,  of  James  Shields;  Michigan,  of  Lewis  Ca.ss,  and  Wis- 
consin, of  Pere  James  Marquette. 

By  the  act  of  the  legislature  of  Missouri,  approved  April  8, 
1895,  a  fund  was  appropriated  and  a  commission  constituted, 
comprising  Governor  Wilham  J.  Stone,  chairman;  Peter  L.  Foy, 
esq.,  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis;  Gen.  Odon  Guitar,  of  Boone 
County;  Judge  O.  M.  Spencer,  of  Buchanan;  Hon.  B.  B.  Cahoon, 
of  St.  Francois,  and  Col.  James  H.  Birch,  of  Clinton,  who  were 
directed  to  have  executed  statues  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and 


8        Address  of  Mr.  Dockery  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

Francis  P.  Blair.  That  commission  discharged  their  func- 
tions with  care  and  complete  success,  and  under  their  pains- 
taking supervision  models  were  selected  and  the  sculptures 
executed  in  marble  by  the  artist,  ]\Ir.  Alexander  Doyle,  of  New 
York  City. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  with  special  pride  that  Missouri  contributes 
to  our  national  pantheon  these  memorials  of  two  of  her  most 
illustrious  sons,  Benton  and  Blair.  Their  names  and  their 
deeds  not  only  have  wrought  especial  blessing  and  reflected 
lasting  renown  upon  their  own  imperial  Commonwealth,  but 
they  are  the  heritage  of  the  whole  country  as  well;  and  as  such 
their  marble  images  worthily  find  a  place  in  yonder  hall,  side 
by  side  with  those  of  others  of  the  nation's  noblest  children — 
pioneers,  w^arriors,  statesmen,  inventors,  benefactors — heroes  all. 

Both  Benton  and  Blair  rendered  most  distinguished  service 
in  the  National  Legislature — Benton  for  five  terms  in  the 
Senate  and  one  term  in  the  House,  and  Blair  for  parts  of  four 
terms  in  the  House  and  part  of  a  term  in  the  Senate;  so  that 
with  peculiar  fitness  their  sculptured  images  will  stand  yonder 
and  be  viewed  by  generations  to  come,  hard  by  the  scenes  of 
their  legislative  struggles  and  triumphs. 

In  Benton  we  behold  the  mightiest  son  of  the  early  West — 
the  most  colossal  figure  in  the  march  of  trans-Mississippi  de- 
velopment, striding  onward  head  and  shoulders  above  all  his 
contemporaries.  It  was  not  my  good  fortune  to  have  known 
him,  or  my  privilege  ever  to  have  seen  him;  but  his  grand, 
manly  character,  his  splendid  achievements  in  public  life,  and 
his  princely  qualities  as  a  private  citizen,  as  I  have  learned 
them  from  the  lips  of  others  and  as  I  find  them  chronicled  in 
our  history,  command  my  unstinted  admiration.  Himself  a 
pioneer,  I  take  him  to  have  been  the  recognized  exponent  of 
the   great   pioneer  class,  hardy,  enterprising,   irresistible;    the 


Statues  of  Thomas  H.  Bcntoii  and  Francis  P.  Blair .      9 

ablest  expounder  of  their  \-ie\vs,  and  the  most  typical  repre- 
sentative of  their  aspirations.  In  his  day  and  generation  he 
was  the  greatest  champion  of  the  West  and  its  interests,  and 
the  most  zealous  advocate  of  every  movement  for  the  extension 
of  the  western  boundaries  of  the  Republic,  beholding  with 
clearer  vision  than  most  of  his  fellows,  through  the  mist  of 
coming  years,  something  of  the  later  grandeur  and  glory  which 
the  nation  has  attained. 

And  yet,  despite  the  strength  of  his  local  and  sectional 
predispositions,  his  aggressive  patriotism  was  national  and  all- 
embracing;  the  love  of  his  great  heart  comprehended  alike 
the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  and  the  West.  He  gloried  in 
the  American  Union,  and  his  marvelous  endowments  were 
always  freely  offered  to  the  service  of  his  whole  country.  His 
teachings,  in  their  effect  upon  the  people  of  his  own  State, 
did  perhaps  as  much  as  any  other  agency  to  keep  Missouri 
still  within  the  sisterhood  of  the  Union  when  her  Southern 
neighbors  left  it;  they  formed  the  groundwork  upon  which 
Bi^AiR  afterwards  so  brilliantly  operated  to  hold  the  State  fast 
to  her  old  moorings. 

There  w^ere  giants  in  those  days,  and  Benton  was  one  of 
them,  towering  amid  the  greatest  of  his  colleagues — Webster, 
Clay,  and  Calhoun.  When  it  is  remembered  that,  from  the 
time  of  Monroe  down  to  the  time  of  Buchanan,  he  exercised  a 
controlling  sway  over  Western  politics  such  as  few  statesmen 
ever  did,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  should  have  left  behind 
him  such  ineffaceable  and  monumental  marks  of  his  greatness. 
During  his  service  in  the  Senate  that  body  was  admittedly 
the  mo-st  influential  legislative  body  in  the  world.  The  nation's 
greatest  political  chiefs  were  members  of  it;  and  in  it,  from  the 
time  of  Jackson,  Benton  stood  forth  continuously  a  command- 
ing figure  and  the  most  eminent  representative  of  Jacksonian 
Democracy. 


lo      Address  of  Mr.  Dockery  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

The  Republic  has  never  produced  a  statesman  more  vahantly 
loyal  and  true  to  his  convictions  than  Bentox.  His  faculties 
always  responded  to  the  call  of  a  great  emergency.  His  metal 
on  such  an  occasion  always  rang  true  and  clear.  He  grew 
steadily  wiser  as  he  proceeded  in  his  career.  With  his  develop- 
ing maturity  he  became  better  equipped  for  the  performance  of 
yeoman  service  to  the  public,  and  it  has  been  said  of  him  that, 
during  the  last  period  of  his  life — the  heroic  period — he  ren- 
dered greater  service  to  the  nation  than  any  of  his  fellow 
Senators. 

In  addition  to  his  herculean  achievements  in  statecraft,  his 
attainments  in  other  directions  attested  his  amazing  industry, 
versatility,  and  liberal  culture.  Daniel  Webster  once  remarked 
that  Benton  knew  more  political  facts  than  any  other  man  he 
ever  met,  and  posses.sed  a  wonderful  fund  of  general  knowledge. 
He  not  only  left  his  powerful  impress  upon  the  events  in  which 
he  was  an  actor  during  his  thirty-two  years'  service  in  Con- 
gress, but  he  left  to  posterity  two  veritable  monuments  attesting 
his  ceaseless  activity  and  study — his  two  great  literary  produc- 
tions, the  "Thirty  Years'  View"  and  his  "Abridgment  of  the 
Debates  of  Congress  from  1789  to  1850" — both  of  them  acknowl- 
edged to  be  indispensable  to  the  student  of  American  political 
and  governmental  history. 

Most  happily  has  the  sculptor  modeled  forth  his  physical 
lineaments  and  suggested  the  qualities  that  characterized  the 
man.  From  a  study  of  the  artist's  handiwork  we  can  the 
better  understand  what  good  sturdy  stuff  Benton  was  made 
of — his  magnificent  physique,  his  tireless  energy,  his  masterful 
intellect,  his  indomitable  will.  From  a  contemplation  of  that 
marble  figure  we  can  fancy  his  aggressive  courage,  his  stern 
sincerity,  his  earnestness,  tenacity,  and  uprightness;  we  can 
picture  in  our  minds  what  a  proud,  resolute,  fearless,  self- 
reliant  hero  he  must   have   been  in   life,  and  we  can  join   in 


Statues  of  Thomas  H.  Ben  ton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      1 1 

humbly  doiiii^  him  honor  for  the  immeasurable  good  he 
wrought  for  his  country  in  his  own  generation  and  for  all 
the  generations  after  him. 

Mr.  Speaker,  in  a  most  remarkable  way  the  life  w^ork  of 
Benton  and  of  Blair  merged  together,  to  the  incalculable 
benefit  of  our  common  State;  the  achievements  of  the  younger 
of  the  two  linked  themselves  with  and  supplemented  those  of 
the  elder.  When  Benton  died,  in  1858,  the  tide  of  Southern 
sentiment  was  rising  like  a  flood,  and  but  for  the  living  influ- 
ence of  the  veteran  statesman,  then  still  in  death,  Missouri 
would  probably  have  been  overwhelmed  by  that  tide.  And 
notwithstanding  that  potent  infliience,  it  would  3'et  have  been 
overwhelmed  had  not  Blair,  courageous  and  preternaturally 
energetic,  intervened  at  the  right  moment,  and  with  the  sagacity 
of  genius,  to  direct  and  utilize  that  influence.  His  lofty  patriot- 
ism, spirit,  and  capacity  saved  the  State  to  the  Union  and  left 
her  free  at  the  close  of  the  civil  strife  to  march  onward  without 
interruption  in  the  paths  of  progress. 

To  have  accomplished  this  was  in  it.self  an  extraordinary 
achievement  for  any  man.  But  Blair  rested  not  there.  He 
plunged  with  knightly  ardor  into  the  Titanic  struggle  then 
beginning,  and  ere  long  became  a  major-general  of  volunteers 
and  a  corps  commander  of  high  efficiency.  He  was  the  most 
illustrious  soldier  that  Missouri  gave  to  the  Union;  indeed, 
he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  successful  of  all  the  chiefs 
of  the  volunteer  army. 

Meanwhile  he  served  also  with  di.stinction  in  Congress;  and 
in  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  as  chairman  of  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs,  he  reported  and  pressed  those  essen- 
tial measures  that  equipped  and  maintained  the  Union  armies 
in  the  field. 

He  was  a  hero  in  council,  in  the  camp,  and  on  the  field  of 
battle.     And  after  the  war,  voluntarily  renouncing  the  grateful 


12      Addi-ess  of  Mr.  Dockery  on  the  Acceptatice  of  the 

political  rewards  that  would  have  freely  come  to  him  from  his 
own  political  party,  he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  heroic  and 
magnanimous  but  unpopular  task  of  protecting  his  late  enemies 
from  injustice  at  the  hands  of  his  own  triumphant  and  intol- 
erant partisans.  In  that  work  of  self-abnegation,  viewed  calmly 
after  this  lapse  of  time,  the  moral  grandeiir  of  the  hero  shines 
forth  with  dazzling  luster.  A  hero  in  the  tribulations  of  war, 
he  became  ten  times  a  hero  in  the  tribulations  of  returning 
peace.  In  the  face  of  frenzied  calumny-,  furious  partisanship, 
and  mob  violence,  his  manly  heart  demanded  justice  for  his 
beaten  foes;  and  with  undaunted  personal  courage,  with  cool- 
ness and  bravery  almost  unexampled,  he  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  weak,  the  disfranchised,  the  tax  ridden,  and  the  downtrod- 
den, and  sought  by  practical  means  to  bind  up  and  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  recent  strife. 

Like  others  of  the  proscribed  class  who  witnessed  his  intrepid 
conduct  in  behalf  of  my  oppressed  people  on  the  most  trying 
occasions,  I  may  say  that,  in  adding  this  humble  tribute  to  his 
fame,  it  is  not  prompted  by  a  mere  formal  or  prefunctory  im- 
pulse, ]jut  by  a  sentiment  of  sincere  personal  affection.  The 
political  and  civic  honors  that  would  have  come  to  him  imme- 
diately following  the  war,  but  which  he  denied  to  himself,  and 
the  later  political  success  which  he  would  doubtless  have 
attained  had  his  life  been  spared,  are  more  than  compensated 
by  the  fervent  love  which  all  the  people  of  Mis.souri  cherish  for 
his  memory.      [lyoud  applause.] 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  to  append  to  my  remarks  and  to  incor- 
porate in  the  Record  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Benton  and  Blair,  written  by  Hon.  J.  H.  Birch,  of  Platts- 
burg,  Mo.,  one  of  the  State  commissioners,  and  transmitted  to 
me  for  that  purpose.     It  reads: 

It  is  deemed  proper  that  the  only  native-born  Missourian  on  the  com- 
mission, who  knew  both  of  these  distinguished  citizens  during  their  lives, 
should  be  heard  on  this  interesting  occasion.     I  shall  speak,  therefore, 


Statues  of  Thomas  IL  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     13 

from  personal  knowledge.  Sixty  years  ati^o  Colonel  BENTON  and  my 
father  were  friendly  associates.  Our  home,  in  the  village  where  we  lived, 
was  occasionally  honored  by  his  visits.  Sitting  and  listening  to  his  con- 
versation, I  wondered  that  I  was  permitted  to  exist  in  such  a  presence. 
In  after  years,  when  grown  to  manhood,  and  bitter  personal  enmity  had 
arisen  between  them,  I  recognized  the  fact  that  Baneton — for  it  was  thus 
he  pronounced  his  name — was  the  most  powerful  political  factor  in  the 
great  West. 

No  one  favored  him  in  appearance,  manners,  or  personal  characteris- 
tics, and  but  few  ever  reached  his  level  in  intellectual  power,  information, 
or  influence.  His  was  an  isolated  personality.  He  had  but  few,  if  any, 
confidants.  He  recognized  but  two  conditions  in  public  life  between 
men— leadership  and  followers.  He  knew  his  own  fitness  to  rule,  and 
demanded  that  others  obey.  He  sought  no  advice,  and  permitted  no 
dissent;  and  criticism  of  his  political  infallibility  resulted  in  personal 
and  political  ostracism.  If  he  ever  forgot  or  forgave  an  intended  injury, 
onh'  his  Creator  knew  it.  If  he  ever  had  an  emotion  in  connection  with 
his  ambition,  it  was  kept  as  hidden  as  the  thoughts  of  a  Hindoo's  god. 
Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  the  Csesars,  there  would  have  been  another 
Brutus.  Had  he  commanded  the  Roman  armies  when  Palmj^ra  fell,  he 
might  have  spared  Zenobia  in  recognition  of  her  great  prowess  and  char- 
acter, but  she  would  never  have  been  carried  through  the  streets  of 
Rome  attached  to  his  triumphal  car,  for  in  such  a  pageantry  Benton 
deemed  the  presence  of  no  one  necessary — if  BenTON  was  there. 

His  courage  was  equal  to  every  emergency,  and  was  always  under  the 
most  perfect  control;  but  it  was  as  cold  and  as  merciless  as  the  heart  of  a 
matadore.  In  its  use  he  made  but  one  mistake,  when  by  it  he  forced  his 
enemies  to  conspire  to  kill  him,  that  they  might  live.  To  accomplish  his 
political  destruction  they  contrived  to  have  passed  through  the  general 
assembly  of  Missouri  during  the  winter  of  184S-49  the  celebrated  Jackson 
resolutions,  instructing  him  how  to  vote  on  the  great  question  of  that  day 
then  pending  in  the  Senate — the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  Thev  knew 
he  would  not  obey  them,  because,  first,  of  the  disunion  doctrine  contained 
in  them,  and,  second,  of  personal  resentment  at  the  audacity  of  attempt- 
ing to  instruct  Benton  on  such  a  subject. 

As  was  expected,  Benton  defied  the  general  assembly  of  Missouri, 
charging  it  with  misrepresenting  the  people  of  the  State;  and,  issuing 
his  appeal  to  the  people,  came  home  in  May,  1849,  ^"^l  opened  a  cam- 
paign in  person,  which  never  closed  until  he  was  defeated  for  governor  in 
1856.  Although  quite  75  years  of  age,  yet  he  canvassed  the  State  until 
election  day  in  a  carriage,  making  speeches  every  day.  If  he  ever  suffered 
mental  anguish  at  the  waning  of  his  political  fortunes,  he  hid  it  beneath 
that  iron  face  with  the  stoicism  of  a  martyr.  Old  as  he  was,  he  carried 
with  him  on  the  stump  that  imperial  presence  which,  in  his  younger  days, 
had  awed  multitudes  into  silence,  and  neither  discomfort  nor  pain  brought 
complaint  from  his  lips. 


14       Address  of  Air.  Dockcry  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

If  anybod}-  doubts  the  accuracy  of  the  photograph  thus  drawn,  let  him 
look  at  that  statue.  The  sculptor,  as  if  b}-  inspiration,  caught  the  secret 
force  of  his  individuality  and  drew  it  in  its  strongest  lines,  representing 
him  in  the  strength  of  his  matured  manhood,  at  the  zenith  of  his  political 
power,  and  clothing  him  w-ith  that  air  of  arrogance  which,  like  the  waves 
of  the  sea  breaking  upon  the  rock-bound  shore,  forbade  the  approach  of 
those  who  sought  to  cower  at  his  feet. 

Had  the  sculptor  failed  in  this  respect,  the  spirit  of  Benton  would  have 
haunted  him  forever;  for  it  can  be  said  of  Benton  that  his  life  was  as 
devoid  of  hypocrisy  and  of  pretense  as  it  was  of  love-making  to  gain  popu- 
lar favor.  Like  Cromwell,  his  wish  was  to  be  painted  as  he  was — to  be 
seen  and  known  among  men  as  a  man  of  indomitable  will,  of  great  force 
of  character,  with  a  steady  and  strong  purpose  in  life,  guided  b}-  a  brain 
and  aided  by  an  intellect  which  enabled  him  to  scale  the  highest  peaks  in 
the  great  range  of  human  possibilities. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  secluded  from  the  world,  he  took  the 
most  ample  revenge  upon  his  enemies,  for  he  left  behind  him  the  greatest 
political  history  of  the  century,  his  Thirty  Years'  View. 

And  now,  nearly  fifty  years  after  the  people  of  Missouri  had  driven  him 
from  his  seat  in  the  highest  councils  of  the  nation,  which  for  thirty  j-ears 
he  had  adorned  with  his  great  character,  wdth  fidelity  to  his  State  and  his 
country,  they  order,  without  a  single  dissenting  voice,  that  his  name  and 
his  memory  be  forever  perpetuated  in  marble,  in  the  Capitol  of  his  coun- 
try, in  the  very  building  where  he  won  his  enduring  fame. 

Gen.  Francis  Preston  Blair,  who  is  associated  with  Colonel  Benton 
in  this  memorial  dedication,  was  his  great  friend  and  youthful  associate. 
At  his  feet  he  learned  those  lessons  which  guided  his  political  conduct  in 
after  life.  In  personal  characteristics,  action,  and  manners  they  were  as 
different  as  they  were  in  appearance.  I  knew  General  Blair  well.  He 
was  my  elder,  but  our  ages  enabled  us  to  fraternize  with  ease.  In  early 
life,  he  being  a  follower  of  BenTon,  we  naturally  separated;  but,  as  the 
years  advanced,  the  great  political  controversies  which  overwhelmed  the 
country  brought  us  close  together,  and,  becoming  the  warmest  of  friends, 
our  lines  of  life  ran  close  together. 

We  were  comrades  during  the  w^ar  with  Mexico.  He  was  a  private  and 
I  was  a  corporal.  We  were  comrades  during  the  ' '  war  between  the  States. ' ' 
He  was  a  major-general  and  I  a  simple  colonel.  In  the  great  political 
struggle  which  swept  over  Missouri  in  1.S70— the  .sole  issue  being  the  reen- 
franchisement  of  the  people,  and  which  led  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Rei)ub- 
licans  in  the  State — we  were  comrades  again,  and  that  winter  found  us 
both  members  of  the  general  assembly  of  Missouri. 

In  the  vSenatorial  caucus  which  followed  a  most  exciting  and  Ijitterl)-- 
contested  ballot,  I  moved  and  carried  the  proposition  to  make  his  nomina- 
tion unanimous.  Before  the  vote  was  counted  and  announced,  and  in  the 
joint  session  of  the  two  houses,  my  name  coming  first  on  the  senate  roll, 
I  had  the  honor  of  casting  the  first  vote  for  him  for  United  States  Senator. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  being  in  Jefferson  City  three  years  ago,  the 


S/a/urs  of  Thomas  If.  Puiilon  and  Prancis  P.  Plair.      15 

distinguished  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  now  rep- 
resenting his  country  as  consul-general  at  Montreal,  honored  me  with  the 
request  that  I  draft 'the  bill  which  he  introduced  and  passed  through  the 
general  assembly,  and  under  the  commands  whereof  these  statues  were 
executed.  Being  named  as  one  of  the  connnissioners,  I  am  proud  of -the 
privilege  which  enables  me  thus  to  garland  Blair's  statue  with  a  wreath, 
which  at  least  is  embalmed  with  the  perfume  of  personal  friendship. 

General  Blair  needs  no  eulogy.  That  statue  is  the  embodiment  of  the 
will  of  the  people  of  Missouri,  and  is  the  most  perfect  representation  of 
a  man  I  ever  saw  in  marble.  He  was  a  Coeur  de  Leon  in  courage  and 
knightly  manner.  No  one  in  his  presence  ever  acknowledged  a  wrong 
done  him  but  it  was  accepted  with  a  princely  graciousness  that  instantly 
dissolved  the  self-abasement  that  was  in  the  act.  His  courage  was  part  of 
his  soul,  and,  filling  his  body,  came  at  his  call  like  an  electric  spirit,  borne 
on  the  great  blood-waves  of  his  heart;  and  the  necessity  for  its  use  having 
passed,  it  went  back  with  his  blood,  leaving  no  rankling  thorns  behind. 

Such  a  spirit  naturally  drew  around  him  as  bold  and  as  determined  a 
following  as  ever  marched  beneath  a  highland  banner,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, a  host  of  enemies  equally  bold  and  resolute;  and  as  a  result,  the 
political  battlefields  of  Missouri  after  the  war  rivaled  in  many  respects, 
except  the  clash  of  arms,  the  real  battlefields  which  preceded  them. 
Blair  was  the  master-spirit  in  those  campaigns,  and  victory  came  as  the 
result  of  his  leadership.  Yet  so  bravely  did  he  lead  that  the  fierce  spirit 
of  personal  antagonism  passed  away  with  the  settlement  of  the  question. 
His  selection  for  the  honors  of  this  day  was  equally  unanimous  with 
Benton's. 

It  was  not  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  great  men  in  Missouri 
that  Blair  was  thus  honored.  There  has  been  no  time  when  her  voice 
has  been  silent  during  the  progress  of  the  great  controversies  which  have 
arisen  since  her  admission  into  the  Union.  There  sleep  within  her 
borders  many  men  who  had  but  few  peers,  whether  on  the  battlefield 
or  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  any  one  of  whom  Missouri  would  proudly 
honor;  but  it  was  the  life  and  later  services  of  Blair  which  evoked  such 
a  combination  of  public  sentiment  that  all  other  claims  were  merged 
in  his;  and  to-day  Missouri  presents  the  statues  of  two  of  her  citizens 
who  laid  down  the  duties  of  this  life  only  in  obedience  to  the  bugle  call 
from  the  other  shore. 

It  was  a  grand  and  patriotic  conception  which  led  to  the  dedication  of 
that  Hall  as  the  pantheon  of  so  many  American  heroes.  It  had  been 
hallowed  by  the  presence  of  the  great  spirits  who  cemented  the  founda- 
tions of  American  liberty,  and  it  is  proper  that  the  unborn  generations 
who  shall  tread  its  sacred  floor  may  read  the  history  of  the  past  in  the 
silent  .statues  gathered  there.  No  other  spot  would  have  been  so  appro- 
priate, and  no  less  a  tribute  to  its  historic  memories  would  have  been 
proper. 

And  now  we  leave  these  statues  there,  to  remain  forever,  sheltered  by 
that  historic  roof,  and  protected  by  that  flag  which  has  grown  to  be  the 
emblem  of  the  power  of  the  greatest  people  of  the  earth. 


[6         Address  of  Mr,  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 


Address  of  Mr.  Clark,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Speaker,  when  Governor  B.  Gratz  Brown,  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  of  all  Missouri  statesmen,  on  a  historic  occasion 
said,  "Missouri  is  a  grand  State  and  deserves  to  be  grandly 
governed,"  he  uttered  an  immortal  truth.  He  might  have 
added  with  equal  veracity,  "She  deserves  to  be  grandly  repre- 
sented in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, ' '  and  she  has  been 
in  the  main,  particularly  in  the  Senate,  where  paucity-  of  mem- 
bers and  length  of  tenure  more  surely  fix  a  man  in  the  public 
eye  than  service  in  the  House. 

First  and  last,  Missouri  has  commissioned  twenty-one  differ- 
ent men  to  represent  her  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  in 
the  less  numerous  branch  of  the  National  Legislature,  in  the 
Chamber  of  the  Conscript  Fathers,  in  "the  Upper  House  of 
Congress,"  improperl}^  so  called;  or,  as  Senator  Morgan,  of 
Alabama,  would  have  it,  "Ambassadors  of  a  sovereign  State" 
to  the  Federal  Government.  Beginning  with  David  Barton  and 
Thomas  Hart  Benton,  her  pioneer  Senators,  who  at  once 
attracted  general  attention  and  challenged  universal  admiration 
by  reason  of  their  commanding  talents,  down  to  this  very  hour, 
when  in  the  persons  of  Francis  Marion  Cockrell  and  George 
Graham  Vest  she  holds  such  an  enviable  position  in  that  con- 
spicuous arena,  Missouri  has  taken  second  place  to  none  of  her 
sister  States. 

These  twenty-one  Senators  naturally  divide  themselves  into 
two  classe.s — the  Barton  line  and  the  Benton  line,  fifteen  in 
the  former  and  only  six  in  the  latter. 

In  the  Barton  line  are  Barton  himself,  Alexander  Buckner, 
Lewis  F.  Linn,  David  R.  Atchison,  James  S.  Green,  Waldo  P. 
Johnson,   Robert  Wilson,  B.  Gratz  Brown,   Charles  D.  Drake, 


S/a/f/cs  of  Thomas  II.  Bcif/ou  and  Francis  P.  lUair.      17 

Daniel  T.  Jcwett,  Francis  P.  Blaik,  Lewis  V.  Bogy,  David  H. 
Annstroiig,  James  vSliields,  and  George  G.  Vest. 

In  the  Benton  line  are  Benton  himself,  Henry  S.  Gej^er, 
Trusten  Polk,  John  B.  Henderson,  Carl  Schurz,  and  Francis 
Marion  Cockrell. 

Lucky  the  man  who  gets  into  Barton's  seat;  luckier,  far 
luckier,  the  man  who  secures  that  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  as 
the  precedents  indicate  a  longer  public  life  for  him. 

An  examination  of  the  dates  at  which  Missourians  entered 
and  left  the  Senate  will  disclose  two  curious  facts  in  Missouri 
history.  She  is  the  onl}-  State  that  ever  elected  two  men  for 
five  full  consecutive  terms  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States — 

six  Roman  lustrums, ' '  as  Benton  was  wont  to  boast  in  his 
pompous  way.  These  were  Benton  and  Cockrell.  She  was 
the  first  State  that  had  only  one  Senator  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time  through  failure  to  elect  another.  By  reason  of 
the  unrelenting  warfare  between  the  Bentonites  and  the  anti- 
Bentonites  the  legislature  chosen  in  1854  never  could  and  never 
did  elect  a  Senator,  as  it  was  in  duty  bound  to  do,  so  that  for 
two  entire  years  Henry  S.  Geyer  was  Missouri's  only  Senator. 

What  is  more,  the  governor  did  not  appoint  or  attemjit  to 
appoint  anyone  to  fill  the  vacancy,  nobody  then  dreaming  that 
the  governor  had  such  power.  But  in  these  later  days  several 
States  have  followed  Missouri's  example  in  failing  to  elect 
Senators;  and,  strange  to  say,  divers  governors  have  insisted 
on  the  right  to  fill  \'acancies  by  appointment  under  similar 
circumstances,  until  finally  the  Senate,  after  lengthy  and  pon- 
derous debate,  solemnly  vindicated  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  constitutional  law  possessed  by  the  governor  of  Missouri  in 
1855  and  1856,  Sterling  Price,  by  declaring  that  a  governor 
has  no  right  to  make  such  ad  interim  appointment. 

Of  Missouri's  21  Senators  there  were  14  Democrats,  i  Whig, 
and  6  Republicans.     Of  156  years  of  Senatorial  representation 
S.  Doc.  456 2 


i8         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acccptaiicc  of  the 

to  which  she  has  been  entitled,  2  were  not  used,  6  fell  to  Whigs, 
22  to  Republicans,  and  126  to  Democrats. 

This  roster  of  Missouri  Senators  is  an  array  of  names  of 
which  the  nation,  no  less  than  the  State,  may  well  be  proud. 
There  are  many  great  men— scarcely  a  small  one— in  the  list. 

Missouri  is  proud  of  her  innneasurable  physical  resources, 
which  will  one  day  make  her  facile  princeps  among  her  sisters; 
but  there  is  something  else  of  which  she  is  prouder  still,  and 
that  is  her  splendid  citizenship,  consisting  at  this  day  of  nearly 
4,000,000  industrious,  intelligent,  patriotic,  progressive,  law- 
abiding.  God-fearing  people. 

When  questioned  as  to  her  riches  she  could  with  propriety 
imitate  the  example  and  quote  the  words  of  Cornelia,  the 
mother  of  the  heroic  Gracchi,  and,  pointing  to  her  children,  .say 
truthfully  and  pridefully,  "These  are  my  jewels." 

In  sending  Thomas  Hart  Benton  and  the  younger  Francis 
Preston  Blair  to  forever  represent  her  in  the  great  American 
Valhalla,  where  the  effigies  of  a  nation's  immortal  worthies  do 
congregate,  Missouri  made  a  mo.st  happy  and  a  most  fitting 
selection  from  among  a  host  of  her  distinguished  sons.  These 
two  men  complement  each  other  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
Really  their  lives  formed  but  one  career — a  great  career — a 
career  of  vast  import  to  the  State  and  nation.  Both  were 
Southerners  by  birth;  both  were  soldiers  of  the  Republic;  both 
members  of  this  Hou.se;  both  Senators  of  the  United  States; 
both  added  largely  to  American  renown;  both  left  spotless 
reputations  as  a  heritage  to  their  countrymen. 

The  dominant  passion  of  these  two  Mis.souri  Titans  was  an 
absorbing  love  of  the  Union.  To  its  preservation  they  devoted 
their  great  energies  of  mind  and  heart  and  body.  To  that  end 
they  were  not  only  theoretically  willing  to  spend  and  be  spent, 
but  were   actually  and  literally  spent.      In    that  warfare  they 


S/a/iu's  of  Thomas  II.  I>rii/oii  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     19 

sacrificed  all  those  things  which  most  inen  hold  dear.  In  that 
cause  Bexton  went  to  his  political  death,  and  Frank  Blair 
rendered  himself  a  physical  wreck.  In  their  vocabularj-  there 
was  no  such  word  as  "concession"  or  as  "compromise."  In 
very  truth  they  took  their  liv^es  in  their  hands  and  fought  the 
battle  to  the  bitter  end. 

Under  the  law  each  State  has  the  right  to  place  the  statues 
of  two — and  only  two — illustrious  American  citizens  in  Statu- 
ary Hall;  but  in  this  regard  Missouri  has  been  more  fortunate 
than  most  of  her  sister  States,  for,  while  she  can  place  only  two 
there  herself,  three  of  her  soldier-statesmen  stand  there  in 
bronze  and  marble  as  perpetual  reminders  of  her  glory.  In 
addition  to  Benton  and  Blair,  through  the  action  of  Illinois 
there  stands  Gen.  James  Shields,  that  illustrious  Irish-Ameri- 
can, a  hero  of  two  wars,  and  the  only  man  that  ever  did,  or  in 
all  human  probability  ever  will,  represent  three  States  of  the 
Union  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Upon  the  base  of  his  statue  in  yonder  hall  are  blazoned 
the  coats  of  arms  of  Illinois,  Minnesota,  and  Missouri,  in  who.se 
service  he  spent  his  life,  but  as  he  wrought  for  the  whole 
country  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  field,  his  fame  belongs  to  the 
whole  country,  in  whose  cause  he  freel)'  shed  his  blood. 

Either  Benton  or  Blair  is  a  sufficient  theme  for  any  orator. 

I  shall  confine  my  remarks,  in  the  main,  to  the  latter,  with 
only  incidental  reference  to  the  former,  leaving  the  great  con- 
temporary of  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  to  my  colleagues. 

In  this  era  of  good  feeling  it  may  .seem  ungracious  to  talk 
much  about  the  civil  war  and  may  appear  Hke  "sweet  bells 
jangled,  out  of  tune;"  but  this  is  a  hi.storic  occasion,  Frank 
Blair  is  a  historic  personage,  and  the  truth  should  be  told 
about  him.  All  his  deeds  with  which  history  will  concern 
itself  are  those  which  he  performed    in   matters  pertaining  to 


20         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

that  unhappy  period — either  before,  during,  or  after.  A  speech 
about  him  and  without  mention  of  these  things  would  be  like 
the  pla}'  of  Hamlet  wdth  the  Prince  of  Denmark  left  out. 

HIS    BIRTHPLACE. 

Born  in  the  lovely  blue-grass  region  of  Kentucky,  reared  in 
Washington  City,  in  the  excitement  and  swirl  of  national 
politics,  spending  his  manhood's  days  in  St.  Louis,  the  great 
city  of  the  Iron  Crown,  his  opportunities  for  growth  were  of 
the  best,  and  he  developed  according  to  the  expectations  of 
his  mo.st  sanguine  friends. 

Within  a  radius  of  75  miles  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  where  Fraxk 
Blair  first  looked  forth  upon  this  glorious  w^orld,  more  orators 
of  renown  were  born  or  have  exercised  their  lungs  and  tongues 
than  upon  any  other  plat  of  rural  ground  of  the  same  size  upon 
the  habitable  globe. 

Whether  the  in.spiring  cause  is  the  climate,  the  soil,  the 
water,  the  liuiestone,  or  the  whisky,  I  do  not  know,  but  the 
fact  remains. 

Within  that  circle  are  the  counties  of  Franklin,  Woodford, 
Scott,  Fayette,  Mercer,  Bourbon,  Nelson,  Washington,  Ander- 
son, Owen,  Shelby,  Marion,  Madison,  Jessamine,  Montgomery, 
Clark,  and  Boyle. 

Henry  Clay,  John  J.  Crittenden,  the  INLirshalls,  the  Breckin- 
ridges,  the  Pre.stons,  the  vShelbys,  the  McAfees,  the  Browns, 
the  Blairs,  the  Buckners,  the  Deshas,  the  Houstons,  Old  Bob 
Letcher,  the  Harlans,  the  Wickliffs,  Old  Ben  Hardin,  Leslie 
Coombs,  John  Rowan,  the  Thompsons,  the  Davises,  the  Turn- 
ers, Richard  H.  Menifee,  the  Goodloes,  the  Hansons,  Henry 
Bascom,  John  Pope,  the  Johnstons,  Chief  Justice  Robert.son, 
Ca.s.sius  M.  Clay,  and  his  brother  Brutus  Junius,  Joe  Blackburn, 
George  Graham  Vest,  Heni-y  W^atterson,  J.  Proctor  Knott,  Jim 


S/cr/ncs  ()/'  yy/o/z/as  //.  lU-iitoii  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     21 

McKen/.ie.  and  a  host  of  choicL*  spirits  have  rotised  the  inuUi- 
tude  and  made  the  welkin  ring.  If  sttch  a  deh neater  of  char- 
acter as  Wilham  Makepeace  Thackeray  could  have  known  the 
men  who  first  and  last  have  been  aronnd  Lexington,  and  given 
us  his  impressions  of  them,  or  if  such  a  biographer  as  James 
Boswell  could  have  followed  lovingly  at  their  heels  to  record 
their  sayings,  we  would  have  the  most  entrancing  book  that 
human  eye  ever  gazed  upon. 

Philo-sophers  may  .say  what  they  please,  but  man  is  largely 
a  creature  of  environment,  and  with  his  surroundings  from 
infancy,  it  was  inevitable  that  Frank  Blair  would  devote 
his  life  to  politics. 

RISE    OF   THE    BLAIRS. 

The  rise  of  the  Blairs,  father  and  sons,  to  great  political  emi- 
nence and  power  forms  a  most  curious  and  interesting  chapter 
in  our  hi.story. 

The  foundation  of  their  career  was  laid  by  an  anonymous 
article  written  by  Francis  P.  Blair,  sr. ,  for  mental  recreation 
purely,  and  printed  in  the  Frankfort,  Ky.,  Argus,  in  the  incipi- 
ent stage  of  the  war  of  extermination  waged  by  Andrew  Jack- 
son again.st  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States,  which  article 
luckily  fell  under  Jackson's  eagle  eye  and  attracted  his  atten- 
tion. It  may  be  doubted  whether  any  other  anonymous  com- 
munication to  any  newspaper  in  zx\y  country  since  Guttenberg 
invented  movable  types  was  ever  productive  of  so  many  and 
such  far-reaching  consequences. 

In  that  elder  day,  while  the  American  newspaper,  was  still  in 
its  infancy,  every  Admini.stration  had  an  "  organ  "  at  the  seat  of 
government,  supported  in  the  main  by  public  pap  and  by  sub- 
scriptions from  Federal  officials.  Subscribe,  resign,  or  be  kicked 
out  were  the  alternatives  pre.sented  to  all  holders  of  govern- 
mental positions,  from  Secretary  of  State  down  to  the  spittoon 


22         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

cleaners.  So  that  to  edit  the  organ  was,  in  the  popular  par- 
lance of  this  day,  to  have  a  decidedh'  soft  snap. 

Until  his  quarrel  with  John  C.  Calhoun,  a  quarrel  which 
wrecked  more  lives  and  was  more  prolific  of  calamities  than  the 
Trojan  war,  Jackson's  organ  was  the  United  States  Telegraph, 
owned  and  edited  b}'  Gen.  Duff  Green.  As  long  as  he  was 
faithful  to  his  irascible  and  exacting  chief,  he  lived  in  tall 
clover. 

But  early  in  that  historic  feud  Duff  began  to  show  signs  of 
ratting  to  Calhoun,  whereupon  Jackson,  with  characteristic 
promptittide,  began  looking  for  another  organist,  and  he  found 
him  accidentally,  in  the  most  unlikely  person  and  most  unex- 
pected place — certainly  the  greatest,  the  fiercest,  the  most  cour- 
ageous, the  most  loyal  to  his  chief,  the  most  puissant  organist 
President  ever  had,  Francis  Preston  Blair,  sr. ,  author  of  the 
anonymous  article  aforesaid,  clerk  of  a  court  at  Frankfort,  Ky., 
the  neighbor,  relative,  and  quondam  stipporter  of  Henry  Clay, 
' '  the  great  commoner. " '  To  lay  on  and  spare  not  the  enemies 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  personal  or  political,  to  smite  them  hip  and 
thigh,  to  draw,  quarter,  and  break  them  on  the  wheel,  to  scalp 
and  tomahawk  them,  to  flay  them  alive  inch  by  inch,  to  roast 
them  at  the  stake,  to  gibbet  them  l:)efore  high  Heaven  was  a 
labor  of  love  to  that  brave,  brain)',  but  modest  Kentuckian. 

Recreant  Democrats  were  the  pet  aversions — the  betes 
noire — of  this  man  whose  pen  was  dipped  in  aqua  fortis.  For 
them  he  had  no  bowels  of  compassion;  toward  them  he  was 
absolutely  merciless.  According  to  his  logic,  desertion  of 
Jackson  was  high  treason  to  the  country.  For  all  such  the  pen- 
alty was  death  without  benefit  of  clergy.  When  even  so  illus- 
trious a  personage  as  Col.  William  R.  King,  of  Alabama,  sub- 
sequently Vice-President,  once  begged  him  to  soften  a  savage 
attack  upon  an  erring  Democrat,  Blair  sternly  replied:  "  Xo;  let 
it  tear  his  heart  out!  " 


Sfa flies  of  T/ioiiias  II.  Ju')ito)i  and  I-'ra/ia's  P.  Jilair.     23 

Blair  was  es.seiitiall>-  and  incorri<^il)ly  a  hero  worshipper; 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  he  had  a  hero  worthy  of  the 
passionate  love  of  all  friends  of  human  liberty,  the  matchless 
soldier  who  at  New  Orleans,  with  a  handful  of  raw  militia,  in 
one  i^lorious,  rapturous  hour  slaughtered  2,600  Englishmen, 
defeated  the  picked  veterans  of  the  Peninsula  who  had  snatched 
the  iron  crown  of  Charlemagne  from  the  brazen  brow  of  Napo- 
leon, and  lowered  to  the  dust  the  towering  pride  of  that  mighty 
monarchy  upon  whose  dominion  the  sun  never  sets  and  whose 
morning  drumbeat  encircles  the  globe. 

No  such  popularity  as  Andrew  Jackson's  has  been  vouchsafed 
to  an  American  President  since  George  Washington  was  laid  to 
rest  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  a  popularity  which  abides  to 
this  day  and  which  will  continue  until  our  race  has  run  its 
course  and  until  the  wide  firmament  is  gathered  up  as  a  scroll. 

For  twenty  years  all  of  the  most  serious  and  learned  argu- 
ments of  Whig  statesmen  were  triumphantly  and  successfully 
answered  by  ' '  Hurrah  for  Jackson ! ' '  and  assuredly  since  the 
morning  stars  first  sang  together  no  man  has  better  deserved 
being  hurrahed  for  than  Old  Hickory.  The  intense  love  which 
his  followers  bore  him  has  alwai's  reminded  me  of  the  pathetic 
enthusiasm  of  the  French  soldier,  sorely  wounded,  who,  as 
Napoleon  swept  by  at  the  head  of  the  Old  Guard,  tore  his 
shattered  arm  from  his  shoulder  and  waving  it  above  his  head 
shouted  "Vive  I'Empereurl" 

Blair  completely  won  the  generous  heart  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son, which  in  itself  was  a  greater  honor  than  could  have  been 
conferred  by  any  patent  of  nobility.  The  insignia  of  the  Order 
of  the  Thistle  or  of  the  Star  and  Garter,  or  of  any  other  order,  or 
of  all  others  ever  devised  by  the  ingenuity  of  man  or  bestowed 
by  the  hand  of  any  king,  emperor,  prince,  czar,  or  potentate,  it 
seems  to  me,  would  not  give  an  American  as  much  pride. and 
pleasure  as  to  be  able  to  say  truthfully,  "I  was  beloved  of 


24 


Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 


Andrew  Jackson."  If  Blair  loved  Jackson,  the  iron  soldier 
repaid  that  love  in  Scripture  measure,  heaped  up,  pressed 
down,  and  running  over.  Almost  the  last  letter  he  ever  wrote 
was  to  Blair,  at  a  time  when  the  Polk  Administration  was 
endeavoring  to  force  him  to  sell  them  the  Globe  under  the 
penalty  of  their  starting  an  opposition  paper.  I  here  quote 
part  of  it,  so  highly  honorable  to  both  the  writer  and  the 
recipient  and  so  characteristic  of  the  former.  Even  at  this 
distant  day  one  can  .scarcely  read  the  closing  sentence  with 
dry  eyes: 

How  loathsome — 

Wrote  Jackson — 

it  is  to  me  to  see  an  old  friend  laid  aside,  principles  of  justice  and  friend- 
ship forgotten,  and  all  for  the  sake  of  policy,  and  the  great  Democratic 
party  divided  or  endangered  for  policy.  I  can  not  reflect  upon  it  with  any 
calmness.  Every  point  of  it,  upon  scrutiny,  turns  to  harm  and  disunion, 
and  not  one  beneficial  result  can  be  expected  from  it.  I  will  be  anxious 
to  know  the  result.  If  harmony  is  restored,  and  the  Globe  the  organ,  I 
will  rejoice;  if  sold,  to  whom,  and  for  what?  Have,  if  you  sell,  the  pur- 
chase money  well  secured.  This  may  be  the  last  letter  I  may  be  able 
to  write  you,  but,  live  or  die,  I  am  your  friend  (and  never  deserted  one 
from  policy),  and  leave  my  papers  and  reputation  in  your  keeping. 

The  parenthesis  in  that  sentence  explains  the  secret  of  Jack- 
son's wondrous  power  over  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men. 
' '  Never  deserted  a  friend  from  policy ' '  —  tho.se  be  golden 
words.  He  might  with  exactest  truth  have  enlarged  the 
.statement  so  as  to  read,  "I  never  deserted  either  a  friend  or 
a  principle  from  policy  'or  for  any  other  reason  whatsoever. ' ' 

The  original  of  that  letter  is  carefully  preserved  in  a  gla.ss 
ca.se  in  the  Congressional  Library,  and  should  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  precious  trea.sures  of  the  archives  of  the  Republic. 

But  this  man,  who  swooped  down  upon  Jackson's  enemies 
with  cruel  beak  and  bloody  talons  to  rend  and  tear  them — this 
man,  who  in  his  capacity  of  editor  was  so  masterful,  inexora- 
ble, and  so  dreaded,  who  killed  off  a  Senator,  a  Cabinet  officer. 


S/a/!/i's  of  Thomas  II.  Bcuton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      25 

a  minister  plenipotentiary  and  envoy  extraordinary,  or  even 
an  aspirant  for  the  Presidency  as  ruthlessly  as  he  would  have 
impaled  a  fly— was  in  private  life  ])ashful  in  dei)()rtment, 
a  fond  husband,  a  dotiu":  father,  a  kindly  and  ol)ligin.ti 
friend. 

SOLDIER. 

Frank  Blair  was  a  soldier  of  two  wars.  He  received  his 
' '  baptism  of  fire ' '  during  our  brief  but  glorious  conflict  with 
Mexico,  being  a  lieutenant  in  that  small,  heroic  band  of  Mis- 
sourians  who,  under  Col.  Alexander  W.  Doniphan,  made  the 
astounding  march  to  Santa  Fe,  Chihuahua,  vSacramento,  and 
Monterey  — an  achievement  which  added  an  empire  to  the 
Union  and  which  threw  into  the  shade  that  far-famed  per- 
formance of  Xenophon  and  his  ten  thousand  which  has  been 
acclaimed  by  the  historians  of  twenty  centuries. 

In  the  civil  war  he  began  as  a  colonel,  fought  his  wa}'  to  a 
major-generalcy,  and  was  pronounced  by  General  Grant  to  l^e 
one  of  the  two  best  volunteer  officers  in  the  service,  John  A. 
Logan,  "the  Black  Eagle  of  Illinois,"  who  married  a  Missouri 
wife,  being  the  other.  In  Sherman's  famous  march  to  the  sea 
Blair  commanded  a  corps,  and  was  considered  the  Marshal 
Ney  of  that  army. 

THE    FIGHT    FOR    MISSOURI. 

Early  impressions  are  never  effaced;  and  it  may  be — who 
knows? — that  the  fact  that  when  a  child  he  sat  upon  the  knee 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  received  the  kiss  of  hereditary  friendship 
from  his  lips,  and  heard  words  of  patriotism  fall  burning  from 
his  tongue  determined  his  course  in  the  awful  days  of  '61,  for 
Jackson  himself,  could  he  ha\-e  returned  to  earth  in  the  prime 
of  life,  could  not  have  acted  a  sterner  or  more  heroic  part  than 
did  his  foster  son. 


26         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  iJic  Acceptance  of  the 

The  fact  that  Andrew  Jackson,  Thomas  Hart  Benton, 
and  the  elder  Francis  Preston  Blair  were  sworn  friends  most 
probably  caused  young  Frank  to  settle  in  St.  Louis,  a  perform- 
ance which,  though  little  noted  at  the  time,  in  all  human  prob- 
ability kept  Missouri  in  the  Union  and  thereby  defeated  the 
efforts  of  the  Southern  people  for  independence;  for  had  it  not 
been  for  Blair's  cool  courage,  clear  head,  unquailing  spirit, 
indefatigable  industry,  commanding  influence,  and  rare  fore- 
sight, the  Southern  sympathizers  in  Missouri  would  have 
succeeded  in  taking  her  into  the  Confederacy. 

There  never  was  in  this  world  a  struggle  in  which  lime 
was  more  the  essence  of  things  than  in  the  fight  for  Missouri. 
The  people  were  divided  into  something  like  three  equal 
parts — one  for  the  Union,  another  for  secession,  while  the  minds 
of  the  third  were  not  made  up,  but  were  in  a  plastic  condition. 
This  halting,  wavering  third  became  decisive  of  the  contest. 
To  control  it  Blair  and  his  opponents  waged  a  battle  royal. 
If,  in  the  beginning,  Blair  could  have  aroused  the  Federal 
Government  to  a  realization  of  the  vast  strategic  importance 
of  Missouri  and  to  the  necessity  for  early  action,  his  task 
would  have  been  easy.  If,  in  the  beginning,  his  antagonists 
could  have  aroused  the  Missouri  legislature  to  a  comprehen- 
sion of  the  situation  and  could  have  induced  the  State  authori- 
ties to  seize  the  United  States  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis  before  Gen. 
Nathaniel  Lyon  was  placed  in  command,  their  task  would  have 
been  easy;  but  when  Lyon  appeared  upon  the  scene,  their  one 
golden  opportunity  was  gone. 

It  was  a  colossal  stake  for  which  this  master  spirit  played; 
nevertheless,  understanding  clearly  the  gravity  of  the  game,  he 
played  it  to  the  end  with  superb  audacity  and  with  nerves  of 
steel  —  no  hesitation,  no  equivocation,  no  menial  reservation, 
no  repining,  no  doubting,  no  backward  glance  on  his  part. 


Statiirs  ofTlionias  II.  Bcnloii  and  Francis  I\  /Hair.     27 

Without  leave  or  license  from  anybody  he  organized  and 
drilled  in  secret  four  regiments,  mostly  Germans,  armin>;  them 
with  .^uns  which  he  purchased  with  money  be.s^ged  by  him  from 
l^nionists  in  the  North,  so  that  when  Governor  Jackson  per- 
emptorily declined  to  furnish  the  four  regiments  which  consti- 
tuted Missouri's  quota  under  President  Lincoln's  first  call  for 
75,000  volunteers,  Blair  promptly  tendered  by  telegraph  his 
four  regiments  which  he  had  been  for  months  secretly  recruit- 
ing in  St.  Louis  and  had  them  mustered  into  the  service.  Not 
onlv  that,  but  he  tendered  six  more  regiments,  which  were  also 
accepted. 

The  Government  offered  him  a  brigadier's  commission  as 
commander  of  that  brigade,  which  he  gracefully  and  firmly 
declined  in  favor  of  L>-on— an  act  of  generosity  and  self-abnega- 
tion unusual  among  men. 

Time  fought  for  Blair  in  this  strange  contest  for  possession 
of  a  State,  for  the  preservation  of  the  Republic. 

Those  who  most  effectually  tied  the  hands  of  the  secessionists 
and  who  unwittingly  but  most  largely  played  into  Blair's  were 
the  advocates  of  "armed  neutrality  "—certainly  the  most  pre- 
posterous theory  ever  hatched  in  the  brain  of  man.  \\\\o  was 
its  father  can  not  now  be  definitely  ascertained,  as  nobody  is 
anxious  to  claim  the  dubious  honor  of  its  paternity.  What 
it  really  meant  may  be  shown  by  an  incident  that  happened  in 
the  great  historic  county  of  Pike,  where  I  now  reside — a  county 
which  furnished  one  brigadier-general  and  five  colonels  to  the 
Union  Army  and  three  colonels  to  the  Confederate,  with  a  full 
complement  of  officers  and  men. 

Early  in  1861  a  great  "neutrality  meeting"  was  held  at 
Bowling  Green,  the  county  seat.  Hon.  William  L.  Gatewood, 
a  prominent  lawyer,  a  Virginian  or  Kentuckian  by  birth,  an 
ardent  Southern  symi)athizer,  suljsequently  a  State  senator,  was 


28         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

elected  chairman.  The  Pike  County  orators  were  out  in  full 
force,  but  chief  among  them  was  Hon.  George  W.  Anderson, 
also  a  prominent  lawyer,  an  East  Tennesseean  by  nativity, 
afterwards  a  colonel  in  the  Union  Army,  State  senator,  and  for 
four  years  a  member  of  Congress.  Eloquence  was  on  tap  and 
flowed  freely.  Men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  fraternized;  they 
pa.ssed  strong  and  ringing  resolutions  in  favor  of  ' '  armed  neu- 
trality," and  "  all  went  merry  as  a  marriage  bell." 

Chairman  Gatewood  was  .somewhat  mystified  and  not  alto- 
gether satisfied  h\  the  harmonious  proceedings;  so,  after 
adjournment  sine  die,  he  took  Anderson  out  under  a  convenient 
tree  and  in  his  shrill  tenor  nervously  inquired,  "  George,  what 
does  'armed  neutralitj'  mean,  an^-how?"  Anderson,  in  his 
deep  bass,  growled,  "It  means  guns  for  the  Union  men  and 
none  for  the  rebels!" — the  truth  and  wisdom  of  which  remark 
are  now  perfectly  apparent.  [Eaughter.]  So  it  was,  verily. 
Andenson  had  hit  the  bull's-eye,  and  no  mi.stake.  If  he  had 
orated  for  an  entire  month,  he  could  not  have  stated  the  case 
more  luminously  or  more  comprehensively.  He  had  exhausted 
the  subject.  Before  the  moon  had  waxed  and  waned  again 
the  leaders  of  that  "  neutrality  "  love  feast  were  hurrying  to  and 
fro,  beating  up  for  volunteers  in  every  nook  and  corner  in  the 
county — some  for  service  in  the  Union,  others  for  service  in 
the  Confederate,  army. 

But  it  is  proverbial  that  "hindsight  is  better  than  foresight." 
Men  nmst  be  judged  by  their  own  knowledge  at  the  time  they 
acted,  not  by  ours;  by  the  circumstances  with  which  they  were 
surrounded,  and  not  by  those  which  environ  us.  What  may 
appear  unfathomable  problems  to  the  wi.se  men  of  one  genera- 
tion may  be  clear  as  crystal  to  even  the  dullest  of  the  suc- 
ceeding generation.  However  ridiculous  "armed  neutrality," 
judged  by  the  hard  logic  of  events,  nia>-  appear  in  the  retro- 
.spect;  however  untenable  we  now  know  it  to  have  been,  the  fact 


S/a/ins  of  T/unias  //.  Boiton  and  Francis  P.  lUair.     29 

iieverthck'ss  remains  that  it  was  honestly  l)eheve(l  in  and  enthu- 
siastically advocated  by  thousands  of  capal)le,  brave,  and  honest 
men  all  over  Kentucky  and  Missoin-i.  many  of  whom  afterwards 
won  laurels  on  the  battlefield  and  laid  down  their  lives  in  one 
arm>-  or  the  other  in  defense  of  what  they  deemed  ri.s,^ht. 

When  we  consider  the  men  who  were  against  Blair  it  is 
astounding  that  he  succeeded.  To  say  nothing  of  scores  then 
unknown  to  fame,  who  were  conspicuous  soldiers  in  the  Con- 
federate army  and  who  have  since  held  high  political  position, 
arrayed  against  him  were  the  governor  of  the  State,  Clail)orne 
F.  Jackson;  the  lieutenant-governor,  Thomas  C.  Reynolds; 
ex-United  States  Senator  and  ex- Vice-President  David  R. 
Atchison;  United  States  Senators  Trusten  Polk  and  James  S. 
Green,  the  latter  of  whom  had  no  superior  in  intellect  or  as  a 
debater  upon  this  continent;  Waldo  P.  Johnson,  elected  to  suc- 
ceed Green  in  March,  1861,  and  the  well-beloved  ex-governor 
and  ex-brigadier-general  in  the  Mexican  war,  Sterling  Price, 
by  long  odds  the  most  popular  man  in  the  State. 

No  man  between  the  two  oceans  drew  his  sword  with  more 
reluctance  or  used  it  with  more  valor  than  "Old  Pap  Price." 
The  statement  is  not  too  extravagant  or  fanciful  for  belief  that 
had  he  been  the  sole  and  absolute  commander  of  the  Confed- 
erates who  won  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  he  wotild  have 
rescued  Missouri  from  the  Unionists. 

The  thing  that  enabled  Blair  to  succeed  was  his  settled 
conviction  from  the  first  that  there  would  be  war — a  war  of 
coercion.  While  others  were  hoping  against  hope  that  war 
could  be  averted  or,  at  least,  that  Missouri  could  be  kei)t  out 
of  it,  even  if  it  did  come  —  while  others  were  making  constitu- 
tional arguments,  while  others  were  temporizing  and  dallying — 
he  acted.  Believing  that  the  questions  at  is.sue  could  be  settled 
onlv  bv  the  sword,  and  also  believing  in   Napoleon's  maxim 


30        Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  oj  the 

that  "God  fights  on  the  side  of  the  heaviest  battalions,"  he 
grimly  made  ready  for  the  ])art  which  he  intended  to  play  in 
the  blood}'  drama. 

"THE    ARDUOUS    GREATNESS    OF    THINGS    DONE." 

Blair  was  5  feet  11  inches  in  height,  straight  as  an  Indian, 
of  slender,  wir}^  frame,  hazel  ej^es,  auburn  hair,  ruddy  complex- 
ion, and  aquiline  nose.  He  was  of  what  the  phrenologists 
denominate  the  sanguine-nervous  temperament.  He  was  an 
optimist  by  nature  and  had  unbounded  confidence  in  him.self 
and  in  Missourians,  with  whose  capabilities,  characteristi:s, 
sentiments,  and  prejudices  he  was  as  well  acquainted  as  any 
man  that  ever  lived. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  186 1,  in  urging  the  President  to  author- 
ize the  enlistment  of  a.  large  number  of  Missourians,  he  wrote 
these  words,  which,  in  the  light  of  what  happened  in  the  suc- 
ceeding four  years,  appear  amazing: 

We  are  well  able — 

He  said — 

to  take  care  of  ourselves  in  this  State  without  assistance  from  elsewere  if 
authorized  to  raise  a  sufficient  force  within  the  State;  and  after  that  work 
is  done  we  can  take  care  of  the  secessionists  from  the  Arkansas  line  to  the 
Gulf,  along  the  west  shore  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  most  .spectacular  feature  of  the  great  Chicago  national 
Republican  convention  of  1880  was  Conkling's  speech  nominat- 
ing Orant.  That  masterful  oration  will  be  read  with  raptiu'e 
by  millions  yet  unborn.  It  contained  a  single  sentence  which 
alone  made  it  worthy  of  rememl)rance.  In  describing  Grant, 
Conkling  said: 

His  fame  was  born  not  alone  of  thinj^s  written  and  said,  but  of  the  ardu- 
ous j^reatness  of  things  done. 

The  phrase    "the   arduous   greatness  of  things  done"    was 

original  with  the  l)rilliant  New  Yorker,  and  constitutes  a  rich 


S/(7//(rs  of  TJioDias  //.  lu-ii/oii  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     31 

and  pcnnaueiit  atUlilioii  lo  our  literature'.  It  sticks  to  the 
memory  like  a  burr.  It  fills  a  lonj.;-felt  want.  It  applies  to 
Fk.\xk  Bl.mr  as  well  as  to  the  threat  captain  in  who.se  presence 
the  whole  world  uncovered,  for  Blair's  fame  rests  also  largely 
on  "the  arduous  greatness  of  things  done." 

Col.  Thomas  L.  vSnead,  who  was  Price's  chief  of  ordnance  as 
well  as  adjutant-general  of  the  vState  guard,  who  wrote  The 
Fight  for  Missouri,  one  of  the  very  best  books  about  the  ci\il 
war,  in  speaking  of  the  battle  of  Boonville,  pays  this  si)lendid 
and  ungrudging  tribute  to  Blair: 

Insignificant  as  was  this  engagement  in  a  military  aspect,  it  was  in  fact 
a  stunning  blow  to  the  Southern-rights  people  of  the  State,  and  one  which 
did  incalculable  and  unending  injury  to  the  Confederates.  It  was  indeed 
the  consummation  of  Bi..\ir'S  .statesmanlike  scheme  to  make  it  impos- 
sible for  Missouri  to  secede  or  out  of  her  great  resources  to  contribute 
abundantly  of  men  and  material  to  the  Southern  cause,  as  she  would 
surely  have  done  had  her  people  been  left  free  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

It  was  also  the  crowning  achievement  of  Lyon's  well-conceived  cam- 
paign. The  capture  of  Camp  Jackson  had  disarmed  the  State  and  com- 
pelled the  lovalty  of  St.  Louis  and  all  the  adjacent  counties.  The  advance 
upon  Jefferson  City  had  put  the  State  government  to  flight  and  taken 
away  from  it  that  prestige  which  gives  force  to  established  authority. 
The  dispersion  of  the  volunteers  who  had  rushed  to  Boonville  to  fight 
under  Price  for  Missouri  and  the  South  extended  Lyon's  conquest  over 
all  that  country  lying  between  the  Missouri  and  the  State  of  Iowa,  closed 
all  the  avenues  by  which  the  Southern  men  of  that  part  of  Missouri 
could  make  their  way  to  Price,  made  the  Missouri  an  unobstructed  Fed- 
eral highway  from  its  source  to  its  mouth,  and  rendered  it  impossible 
for  Price  to  hold  the  rich,  populous,  and  friendly  counties  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lexington.  Price  had  indeed  no  alternative  now  but  to  retreat  in  all 
haste  to  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  State,  there  to  organize  his  army 
under  the  protection  of  the  force  which  the  Confederate  government  was 
mustering  in  northwestern  Arkansas  under  General  McCulloch  for  the 
protection  of  that  State  and  the  Indian  Territory. 

Again,  in  summing  up  the  achievements  of  Gen.  Nathaniel 

Lyon,  who  was  Blair's  sworn  friend  and  ally,  carrying  out 

Blair's  general  plan.  Colonel  Snead  says: 

By  capturing  the  vState  nulitia  at  Camp  Jack.son  and  driving  the  gov- 
ernor from  the  capital  and  all  his  troops  into  the  uttermo.st  corner  of 
the   State,  and  by   holding    Price  and  INIcCuUoch  at  bay,  he  had  given 


7,2         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  tJic  Acccptaiice  of  the 

tlie  Union  men  of  Missouri  time,  opportunity,  and  courage  to  brinjj  their 
State  convention  together  again,  and  had  given  the  convention  an  excuse 
and  the  power  to  depose  Governor  Jackson  and  Lieutenant-Governor 
Reynolds,  to  vacate  the  seats  of  the  members  of  the  general  assembly, 
and  to  establish  a  State  government  which  was  loyal  to  the  Union  and 
which  would  use  the  whole  organized  power  of  the  State— its  treasury,  its 
credit,  its  militia,  and  all  its  great  resources — to  sustain  the  Union  and 
crush  the  South. 

A  few  incidents  out  of  a  multitude  which  might  be  cited  will 
show  the  character  of  political  warfare  in  Missouri  in  the  days 
when  Blair  was  on  the  boards. 

Before  the  war  he  went  to  Hannibal  to  make  an  emancipation 
speech.  A  mob  gathered  to  break  up  the  meeting.  While  he 
was  speaking  some  one  hit  him  squarel}'  in  the  forehead  with 
an  &^^.  He  wiped  it  oif  with  his  finger,  flipped  it  on  the 
groimd,  and  imperturbably  proceeded,  making  not  the  slightest 
allusion  to  the  incident.  His  marvelous  nerve  charmed  his 
audience,  hostile  though  it  was,  and  those  who  had  come  to 
stone  him  remained  to  applaud. 

In  the  outskirts  of  Louisiana,  Mo. ,  stand  four  innnense  sugar 
trees,  which,  if  the  Druidical  religion  were  in  vogue  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi \'alley,  would  be  set  aside  as  objects  of  worsliip  by 
Democrats.  They  form  the  corners  of  a  rectangle  about  large 
enough  for  a  speaker's  platform.  Beneath  their  grateful 
shadow,  with  the  Father  of  Waters  behind  liinL  the  eternal 
hills  in  front  of  him,  the  blue  sky  above  his  head,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  and  curious  concoiir.se  of  people,  Fkaxk  Blair 
made  the  first  Democratic  speech  delivered  in  Missouri  after 
the  close  of  the  civil  war.  Excitement  was  intense.  Armed 
men  of  all  .shades  of  opinion  abounded  on  every  hand.  When 
Blair  aro.se  to  .speak  he  unlnickled  his  pistol  belt  and  coolly 
laid  two  navy  revolvers  on  the  tal)le.  He  prefaced  his  remarks 
as  follows: 

Fellow-citizens,  I  undenstand  that  I  am  to  be  killed  here  to-day.  I  have 
just  come  out  of  four  years  of  that  sort  of  business.  If  there  is  to  l)e  any 
of  it  here,  it  had  better  be  atttended  to  l)efore  the  speaking  begins. 


S/a/ius  of  ThoDias  II.  Biiiton  and  Francis  P.  Blair. 


oo 


That  calm  l)Ul  prei;nanl  cxonliuni  lias  pt;rhai)S  no  couiilcr- 
part  in  the  entire  range  of  oratory. 

There  was  silence  deep  as  death; 

And  Ihr  l).)l(U-st  lu'ld  his  hrc-aUi 
I'\)r  a  linu-. 

He  then  proceeded  with  his  speech,  but  had  not  been  going 
more  than  five  minutes  until  a  man  of  gigantic  proportions 
started  toward  him,  shaking  his  huge  fist  and  shouting,  "  He's 
an  arrant  rebel!  Take  him  out!  Take  him  out!"  Blaik 
stopped,  looked  the  man  in  the  face,  crooked  his  finger  at 
him,  and  said,  "You  come  and  take  me  out!"  which  put  an 
end  to  that  episode,  for  the  man  who  was  yelling  "Take  him 
out!"  suddenly  realized  that  Bi^air's  index  finger,  which  was 
beckoning  him  on,  would  soon  be  pressing  the  trigger  of  one 
of  those  pistols  if  he  did  go  on,  and  he  prudently  declined 
Blair's  invitation. 

He  got  through  that  day  without  bloodshed;  but  when  he 
spoke  at  "W^arrensburg,  a  little  later,  he  had  not  proceeded  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  before  a  prominent  citizen  sitting  on  the 
speaker's  stand  started  toward  Blair,  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand 
and  with  a  mighty  oath,  yelling:  "That  statement  is  a  lie!" 
which  instantly  precipitated  a  free  fight,  in  which  one  man  was 
killed  and  several  severely  wounded.  Bl.mr  went  on  with  his 
speech  amid  ceaseless  interruptions.  I  know  a  venerable,  mild- 
mannered.  Christian  statesman,  now  in  this  very  Capitol,  who 
for  two  mortal  hours  of  that  pandemonium  stood  with  his  hand 
upon  his  revolver  ready  to  shoot  down  any  man  that  assaulted 
Blair. 

Afterwards  Blair  was  adverti.sed  to  speak  at  Marshall,  in 
Saline  County.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival  an  armed  mob  was 
organized  to  prevent  him  from  speaking,  and  an  armed  bod>-  of 
Democrats  swore  he  should.  A  collision  occurred,  resulting  in 
a  regular  pitched  battle,  in  which  several  men  lo.st  their  lives 
and  others  were  badl\-  injured,  lint  Blaik  made  his  sjieech. 
S.  Doc.  456 3 


34         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  o)i  the  Acceptance  of  i  lie 

One  night  he  was  speaking  in  Lncas  Market  pkice,  in  vSt. 
Louis,  when  a  man  in  the  crowd,  not  20  feet  from  the  stand, 
pointed  a  revolver  directly  at  him.  Friendly  hands  interposed 
to  turn  the  aim  skyward.  "Let  him  shoot,  if  he  dares,"  said 
Bl.vir,  gazing  C00II3'  at  his  would-be  murderer;  "  if  I  am  wrong, 
I  ought  to  be  shot,  but  this  man  is  not  the  proper  executioner." 
The  fellow  was  hustled  from  the  audience. 

Amid  such  scenes  he  toured  the  State  from  the  Des  Moines 
River  to  the  Arkan.sas  line  and  from  the  Missis.sippi  to  the 
mouth  of  the  raging  Kaw.  The  man  who  did  that  had  a  lion's 
heart  in  his  breast. 

A    LEADER. 

Tlie  old  Latin  dictum  runs:  "  Poeta  nascitur,  non  fit."  The 
same  is  true  of  the  leader  of  men — he  is  born,  not  made. 

What  constitutes  the  quality  of  leadership,  Mr.  Speaker? 
Vou  do  not  know.  I  do  not  know.  None  of  us  knows.  No 
man  can  tell. 

Talent,  genius,  learning  courage,  eloquence,  greatness  in 
many  fields  we  may  define  with  something  approximating 
exactness;  but  who  can  inform  us  as  to  the  con.stituent  ele- 
ments of  leadership?  We  all  recognize  the  leader  the  moment 
we  l)ehold  him,  but  what  entitles  him  to  that  di.stinction  is  and 
perhaps  must  forever  remain  one  of  the  unsolved  mysteries  of 
])sychology. 

Talent,  even  genius,  does  not  make  a  man  a  leader,  for  some 
men  of  the  profoiuidest  talents,  (others  of  the  most  dazzling 
genius,  have  been  .servile  followers  and  have  deba.sed  their  rich 
gifts  from  God  to  the  flattery  of  despots.  Most  notable  among 
those  was  Lord  Bacon,  the  father  of  the  inductive  philosojihy, 
who  po.ssessed  the  most  exqui.site  intellect  ever  housed  in  a 
human  .skull,  and  who.se  spirit  was  .so  abject  and  .so  groveling 


S/a/ucs  o/TIiouias  //.  lioitoii  and  /-ynncis  P.  Blair.     35 

that  he  was  iu)t  mijustly  described  in   tliat   hlisterin.^;,  scornful 
couplet   by  Alexander  Pope: 

If  parts  allure  thee,  think  how  Hacon  shin'd. 
The  wisest,  brifrhtest,  meanest  of  mankind! 

Courage  is  not  synonymous  with  the  quality  of  leadership, 
though  necessary  to  it,  for  sonic  of  the  bravest  soldiers  that 
ever  niet  Death  upon  the  battlefield  and  defied  him  to  his  face 
were  amazingly  lacking  in  that  regard. 

Learning  does  not  render  a  man  a  leader,  for  some  of  the 
greatest  scholars  of  whom  history  tells  were  wholly  without 
inlluence  over  their  fellow-men.  Kkxpience  does  not  make  a 
leader,-  for  some  of  the  world's  greatest  orators,  among  them 
Cicero,  have  been  the  veriest  cravens;  and  no  craven  can  lead 
men. 

Rut  whatever  the  quality  is,  people  recognize  it  instinctively, 
and  inevitabl>-  follow  the  man  vi^ho  possesses  it. 

Fr.\xk  Blair  was  a  natural  leader. 

Yet  during  his  career  there  were  finer  .scholars  in  Mi.ssouri 
than  he,  though  he  was  an  excellent  .scholar,  a  graduate  from 
Princeton;  there  were  more  splendid  orators,  though  he  ranked 
with  the  most  convincing  and  persuasive;  there  were  pro- 
founder  lawyers,  though  he  stood  high  at  the  l)ar;  there  were 
better  mixers,  though  he  was  of  cordial  and  wimiing  manners; 
there  were  men,  perhaps,  of  stronger  mental  force,  though  he 
was  amply  endowed  with  brains,  so  good  a  judge  of  human 
nature  as  Abraham  Lincoln  saying  of  him,  "He  has  abundant 
talents;'-  there  were  men  as  brave,  though  he  was  of  the 
bravest;  but  as  a  leader  he  overtopped  them  all. 

Believing  .sincerely  that  human  .slavery  was  wnjng  per  .se  and 
that  it  was  of  most  evil  to  the  States  where  it  exi.sted,  he 
fought  it  tooth  and  nail,  not  from  .sympathy  for  the  negroes 
so    much    as    from    aflfection    for   the   whites,    and    created   the 


36         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  (he  Acceptance  of  the 

Republican  party  in  Missouri  before  the  civil  war — a  most 
hazardous  performance  in  that  day  and  latitude.  At  its  close, 
when,  in  his  judgment,  his  party  associates  had  become  the 
oppressors  of  the  people  and  the  enemies  of  liberty,  he  k-ft 
them,  and  lifting  in  his  might>'  arms  the  Democracy,  which  lay 
bleeding  and  swooning  in  the  dust,  he  breathed  into  its  nos- 
trils the  breath  of  life — another  performance  of  extraordinary 
hazard. 

This  man  was  of  the  stuff  out  of  which  martyrs  are  made, 
and  he  would  have  gone  grimly,  undauntetll>',  unflinchingly, 
and  defiantly  to  the  block,  the  scaffold,  or  the  stake  in  defense 
of  any  cause  which  he  considered  just.  Though  he  was  impe- 
rious, tempestuous,  dogmatic,  and  impetuous,  though  no  danger 
could  swerve  him  from  the  path  of  duty,  though  he  gave  tre- 
mendous blows  to  his  antagonists  and  received  many  of  the 
same  kind,  he  had  infinite  compassion  for  the  helpless  and 
the  weak,  and  to  the  end  his  heart  remained  tender  as  a 
little  child's. 

When  he  came  out  of  the  Army,  with  his  splendid  military 
and  civil  record,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  there  was  any 
official  position,  however  exalted,  beyond  his  reach  if  he  had 
remained  with  the  Republicans.  I  have  always  believed,  and 
do  now  believe,  that  by  severing  his  connection  with  them  he 
probably  threw  awa}.-  the  Vice- Presidency — possibly  the  Presi- 
dency itself — a  position  for  which  most  statesmen  pant  even  as 
the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brook.  During  his  long,  .stormy, 
and  vicissitudinous  career  he  always  unhesitatingly  did  what 
he  thought  was  right  for  right's  sake,  leaving  the  consequences 
to  take  care  of  them.selves.  That  he  was  ambitious  of  political 
preferment  there  can  be  wo  question:  but  office  had  no  charms 
for  him  if  it  involved  sacrifice  of  principle  or  compromise  of 
conscience. 


S/a/ui's  of  Thomas  If.  Hcntox  and  Francis  /\  Blair.      37 

This  <?reat  man,  for  .ureat  he  was  beyond  even  the  shadow  of 
a  doubt,  enjoyed  the  distinction  nniciue  amonj^  statesmen  of 
being  hated  and  loved  in  turn  1)>-  all  Missourians,  of  changing 
his  political  affiliations  violently  twice  long  after  he  had  passed 
the  formative  and  effervescent  period  of  youth,  and,  while  s])end- 
ing  nearly  his  entire  life  in  the  hurly-1)urly  of  politics,  of  dying 
at  last  mourned  by  every  man  and  woman  in  the  State  whose 
good  opinion  was  worth  possessing.  In  that  respect  his  career 
is  without  a  parallel.  Born  a  Democrat,  he  served  in  this  House 
as  a  Republican,  in  the  Senate  as  a  Democrat,  and  died,  finally, 
in  the  political  faith  of  his  fathers. 

Change  of  party  affiliations  by  a  man  of  mature  age  is  nearly 
always  a  painful  performance — generally  injuriotis  to  his  fame; 
but  Bl.\ir's  two  complete  changes  of  ba.se  appear  to  have 
increased  the  respect  in  which  men  held  him,  and  the  secret  of 
this  anomaly  is  that  in  each  instance  he  quit  a  triumphant  and 
arrogant  majority  with  which  he  was  a  prime  favorite  to  link 
his  fortunes  with  a  feeble  and  hopeless  minority — proof  con- 
clu.sive  of  his  rectittide  of  purpose,  whereas,  if  he  had  aljandoned 
a  minority  to  join  a  majority  his  honesty  of  motive  might  have 
w^ell  been  impugned. 

Benton's  .scorn  of  his  opponents  was  so  lofty  and  .so  galling, 
the  excoriations  he  inflicted — aye,  lavi.shed — upon  them  bred 
such  rancor  in  their  hearts,  the  lash  with  which  he  .scourged 
them  left  such  festering  wounds,  that  the}-  never  forgave  him 
until  the}"  knew  he  was  dead — dead  as  Julius  Caesar — dead 
beyond  all  cavil.  Then  they  put  on  sackcloth  and  a.shes  and 
gave  him  the  most  magnificent  funeral  ever  seen  west  of  the 
Mississippi. 

Blair's  was  a  happier  fate  than  that  of  his  illustrious  proto- 
type and  exemplar.  While  from  the  day  of  his  return  from 
the  Mexican  war  to  the  hour  of  his  retirement  fnjni  the  Senate 


38         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  0/  the 

he  was  in  the  forefront  of  every  pohtical  battle  in  Missouri — 
and  nowhere  on  earth  were  poHtical  wars  waged  with  more 
ungovernable  fury — stich  were  his  endearing  quahties  that  the 
closing  years  of  his  life  were  placid  as  a  sunnner  evening,  and 
he  died  amid  the  lamentations  of  [a  mighty  people.  Republi- 
cans seemed  to  remember  only  the  good  he  had  done  them, 
forgetting  the  injuries,  while  Democrats  forgot  the  injitries  he 
had  inflicted  upon  them  and  remembered  only  the  invaluable 
service  he  had  rendered.  Union  veterans  named  a  Grand  Army 
po.st  for  him;  Confederates  proudly  call  their  boys  Frank  Blair, 
and  his  fellow-citizens,  without  regard  to  creed  or  party,  erected 
his  statue  of  heroic  .size  in  Forest  Park  to  perpetuate  his  fame 
to  coming  generations. 

THE    BORDER    STATES    DURING    THE    W.\R. 

Gen.  William  Tecumseh  Sherman  once  said,  "  War  is  hell!  " 
Those  who  lived  in  ' '  the  border  States ' '  during  our  civil  war 
and  who  are  old  enough  to  remember  the  tragic  events  of  that 
bloody  but  heroic  epoch  in  our  annals  will  with  one  accord 
indorse  his  idea,  if  not  his  sulphurous  language. 

It  was  easy  to  be  a  Union  man  in  Mas.sachusetts.  It  was  not 
profitable  to  be  anything  else.  It  was  easy  to  be  a  Confederate 
in  South  Carolina.  It  was  not  safe  to  be  anything  else.  But 
in  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  the  other  border  vStates  it  was  peril- 
ous to  be  the  one  thing  or  the  other.  Indeed  it  was  dangerous 
to  be  neither  and  to  sit  on  the  fence.      [Laughter.] 

I  was  a  child  when  Sumter  was  fired  on,  living  in  Washing- 
ton Count)'.  Ky.  I  remember  an  old  fellow  from  whom  the 
Union  raiders  took  one  horse  and  the  Confederate  raiders 
another.  So  when  a  third  ])arty  of  soldiers  met  him  in  the 
road  and  inquired  whether  he  were  a  Union  man  or  a  rebel, 
being  dubious  as  to  their  arm\-  affiliations,  he  answered  diplo- 
maticalK",   "I   am   neither  one  nor  the  other,  and  \(.'r\-  little  of 


statues  of  Thontas  II.  lui/toii  aint  /-"ranc/s  /'.  JUair.     39 

that,"  and  tlieu-hy  lost  his  third  and  last  liorse  to  ConfederaU-s 
dis.uuiscd   in   hhic  uniforms.      [Laughter  and  applause.] 

TIk-  KL-ntuckians  are  a  peculiar  people — the  most  liospital)le. 
the  most  emotional,  the  kinde.st  hearted  under  the  sun:  hul 
thev  are  l)orn  warriors.  A  orenuine  .son  of  "the  Dark  and 
Bloody  ( jround  "  is  in  his  normal  condition  otdy  when  fi.^hl- 
ino-.  It  .seems  to  me  that  somebody  must  have  sown  that 
rich  land  with  drai^nm's  teeth  in  the  early  days.  To  use  a 
sentence  indigenous  to  the  soil,  "A  Kentuckian  will  fight  at 
the  drop  of  a  hat,  and  drop  it  him.self."  So  the  war  was  his 
golden  opportunity.  He  went  to  death  as  to  a  festival.  Xearl>- 
every  able-bodied  man  in  the  State — and  a  great  many  not  able- 
bodied — not  only  of  military  age,  but  of  any  age,  young  enough 
or  old  enough  to  .squeeze  in,  took  up  arms  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  and  .sometimes  on  both. 

Neighbor  against  neighbor,  father  again.st  son,  brother 
again.st  brother,  slave  against  ma.ster,  and  frequenth-  wife 
against  husband;  the  fierce  contention  entered  even  into  the- 
ology, rent  congregations  in  twain,  .severed  the  ties  of  blood, 
and  blotted  out  the  friend.ships  of  a  lifetime. 

Men  who  were  born  and  reared  on  adjoining  farms,  who  had 
attended  the  same  .schools,  played  the  same  games,  courted  the 
same  girls,  danced  in  the  same  .sets,  belonged  to  the  same 
lodges,  and  worshiped  in  the  .same  churches,  suddenl>-  went 
gunning  for  each  other  as  remorselessly  as  red  Indian.s — onl\- 
they  had  a  clearer  vi.sion  and  a  .surer  aim.  From  the  moiUh 
of  the  Big  Sandy  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tennes.see  there  was  not 
a  square  mile  in  which  some  awful  act  of  violence  did  not  take 
place. 

Kentucky  has  always  been  celebrated  for  and  cursed  by  its 
bloody  feuds — feuds  which  cau.se  the  Italian  vendetta  to  appear 
a  holiday  performance  in  comparison.  Of  course  the  war  was 
the  evening-up  time,  and  many  a  man  became  a  violent  Unioni.st 


40         Ac/drcss  of  Mr.  Clark  on  tJic  ^Icccptajicc  of  tJic 

because  the  ancient  enemies  of  his  house  were  vSouthern  sympa- 
thizers, and  vice  versa.  Some  of  them  could  have  £(iven  point- 
ers to  Fra   Diavolo  himself. 

As  all  the  evil  passions  of  men  were  aroused,  and  all  restraints 
of  propriet}-  as  well  as  all  fear  of  law  were  removed,  every 
latent  tendency  toward  crime  was  warmed  into  life.  The  land 
swarmed  with  cutthroats,  robbers,  thieves,  firebugs,  and  male- 
factors of  every  degree  and  kind,  wdio  preyed  upon  the  old,  the 
infirm,  the  helpless,  and  committed  thousands  of  brutal  and 
heinous  crimes — in  the  name  of  the  Union  or  the  Southern 
Confederacy. 

Missouri,  prior  to  the  war,  was  more  a  Kentucky  colony  than 
anything  else,  with  the  Kentucky  characteristics,  feuds  and  all, 
reproduced  in  stronger  and  larger  form  in  her  amazingh-  fertile 
.soil.  vSo  all  that  goes  before  applies  to  Mis.souri  as  well  as  to 
Kentucky. 

From  the  first  Missouri  has  been  the  stormy  petrel  of  Amer- 
ican politics.  The  richest,  the  most  imperial  Commonwealth 
in  the  Union,  her  geographical  location  always  placed  her  in 
the  thick  of  the  fight.  She  was  a  slave  peninsula  jutting  out 
into  a  free-soil  sea. 

The  first  serious  trouble  on  the  slavery  cjuestion  came  with 
her  admission  into  the  Union,  and  the  second  over  the  admis- 
.sion  of  California — a  Missouri  colony.  Most  people  date  hos- 
tilities from  Sumter,  April,  1861.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Missouri 
and  Kansas  had  been  carrying  on  a  civil  war  on  their  own  hook 
for  five  or  six  years  before  the  first  gun  was  fired  in  Charleston 
Harljor. 

If  Sir  Walter  Scott  had  li\-ed  in  that  day,  he  could  have 
found  enough  material  for  fifty  novels  descriptive  of  border 
warfare  in  the  forays  and  exploits  of  the  Mi.ssourians  and  Kan- 
.sans  ])efore  the  first  soldier  was  legall>-  mustered  into  the  ser\-ice 
of  either  armw 


Sfahti's  of  T/ioinas  II.  Boitoii  and  Frain/s  P.  II /air.      41 

Out  on  a  Kansas  prairie  stands  a  moniunent  to  old  John 
Brown,  reciting  the  fact,  inter  aha,  that  he  commanded  "at  the 
battle  ot  Ossawatomie  on  the  .^oth  day  of  August,   iS56."" 

Whether  the  o|)]-)osing  conunander  has  n  monument  I  do 
not  know. 

I  witnessed  only  one  battle  during  the  civil  war.  A  line  in 
Gen.  Basil  W.  Duke's  entertaining  book,  Morgan  and  His 
Men,  is  all  that  is  vouchsafed  to  it  in  the  literature  of  the  war; 
but  surely  it  was  the  most  astounding  martial  caper  e\'er  cut 
since  Nimrod  invented  the  military  art,  and  it  fully  illustrates 
the  Kentuckian's  inherent  and  ineradicable  love  of  fighting. 

I  saw  seven  home  guards  charge  the  whole  of  Morgan's  Ca\-- 
alry — the  very  flower  of  Kentucky  chivalry. 

I  was  working  as  a  farm  hand  for  one  John  Call,  who  was 
the  proud  owner  of  several  fine  horses  of  the  famous  ' '  copper- 
bottom"  V)reed. 

Morgan  had,  perhaps,  as  good  an  eye  for  a  ".saddler"  as  was 
ever  set  in  a  human  head,  and  during  tho.se  troublous  days  his 
mind  was  .sadly  mixed  on  the  meum  and  tuum  when  it  came  to 
equines — a  remark  applicable  to  manj-  others  besides  Morgan, 
on  i)oth  sides  at  that. 

Call,  hearing  that  Morgan  was  coming,  and  knowing  his  pen- 
chant for  the  noblest  of  quadrupeds,  ordered  me  to  mount  "  in 
hot  haste  ' '  and  ' '  take  the  horses  to  the  woods. 

Just  as  I  had  climbed  upon  a  magnificent  che.stnut  sorrel,  fit 
for  a  king's  charger,  and  was  rottnding  up  the  others,  I  looked 
up,  and  in  the  level  rays  of  the  setting  .summer  sun  saw  Mor- 
gan's Cavalry  in  "all  the  pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of 
glorious  war ' '  riding  up  the  broad  gravel  road  on  the  backbone 
of  a  long,  high  ridge,  half  a  mile  to  the  .south.  Fascinated  by 
the  glittering  array,  boy  like,  I  forgot  Call  and  the  ])eril  of  his 
hor.ses  and  watched  the  gay  cavalcade. 

Suddenly  I  saw  seven  horsemen  emerge  from  the  little  \illage 


42         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  tJic  AcccptcDicc  of  f/w 

of  Mackville  and  ride  furiously  down  the  turnpike  to  within 
easy  pistol  ranv^^e  of  the  Confederates  and  open  fire.  I  could 
hear  the  crack  of  the  revolvers  and  see  the  flash  and  smoke, 
and  when  Morgan's  advance  guard  fell  back  on  the  main  body 
I  observed  that  one  riderless  horse  went  back  with  them  and 
that  only  six  home  guards  rode  back  to  Mackville  in  lieu  of  the 
seven  who  had  ridden  forth  to  battle. 

Morgan's  connnand  halted,  deployed  in  battle  line,  and  rode 
slowly  up  the  hill,  while  I  rode  a  great  deal  faster  to  the  woods. 

The  home  guards  had  shot  one  man  out  of  his  saddle  and 
captured  him,  and  Morgan  had  captured  one  of  them.  Next 
morning  the  home  guards,  from  their  forest  fastness,  sent  in  a 
flag  of  truce  and  regularly  negotiated  an  exchange  of  prisoners 
according  to  the  rules  in  such  cases  made  and  provided. 

Of  course  Morgan  would  have  paid  no  attention  to  the  .seven 
men,  but  he  supposed  that  even  his  own  native  Kentucky  never 
nurtured  seven  dare-devils  so  reckless  as  to  do  a  thing  like  that 
unless  they  had  an  army  back  of  them. 

I  have  often  thought  of  that  matchless  deed  of  daring,  and 
can  say,  in  the  language  of  the  Frenchman  who  witnes.sed  the 
charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  at  Balaklava:  "It  is  magnificent, 
but  not  war." 

Years  afterwards  one  of  the  seven  was  .seutling  his  clnldren 
to  school  to  me.  After  I  became  well  acquainted  with  him, 
one  day  I  .said  to  him:  "Gibson,  I  have  always  wanted  to  know 
wliat  made  you  .seven  fellows  charge  Morgan."  "Oh,"  lie 
replied,  "we  were  all  full  of  fighting  whisky" — an  explanation 
which  explained  not  only  that  fight  but  thousands  more. 
[Laughter.] 

If  th.'it  splendid  feat  of  arms  had  been  performed  in  New 
lingland  l)y  New  Englanders  the  world  could  scarcely  contain 
the  books  wliich  would  have  been  written  about   it.      Il  would 


S/a/ucs  of  TJionias  //.  Benton  and  Francis  I\  Blair.     43 

have  been   chronicled   in   history  and  chanted   in   scjn^   as  an 
inexhaustible  theme. 

It  is  oenerally  assumed  by  the  wiseacres  who  write  the  his- 
tories that  in  the  Ixn-der  States  the  old,  wealthy,  prominent 
slaveholdino-  families  all  adhered  to  the  Confederacy,  and  that 
only  the  poor,  the  obscure  natives  and  the  immigrants  from  the 
North  stood  by  the  old  flag.  This  is  a  serious  mistake.  The 
great  historic  dominant  family  connections  divided,  thereby 
making  confusion  worse  confounded.  Prominent  people  wore 
the  Confederate  gray.  Others  ju.st  as  prominent  wore  the 
Union  blue. 

Dr.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  the  great  theologian,  with  a 
decided  and  incurable  bias  for  politics,  who  presided  over 
the  Republican  national  convention  of  1864,  which  nominated 
Abraham  Uucoln  and  Andrew  John.son,  was  a  stanch  Tnion 
man.  Two  of  his  sons  achieved  high  rank  in  the  Confederate 
armies  and  two  others  in  the  Union  armies. 

His  illustrious  cousin,  John  C.  Breckinridge,  resigned  his  seat 
in  the  United  States  Senate  to  become  a  lieutenant-general  in 
the  Southern  army,  while  James  S.  Jackson,  Representative 
from  the  Green  River  district,  resigned  his  .seat  in  the  House  to 
become  a  brigadier  in  the  Union  Army  and  died  a  hero's  death, 
leading  his  division  on  the  hard-fought  field  of  Perryville. 

Rodger  Hanson,  the  eloquent,  became  a  Confederate  general 
and  fell  on  the  field  of  his  glory  at  Stone  River,  while  his 
brother  won  distinction  on  the  other  side  as  general  of  brigade. 

John  J.  Crittenden — the  best  beloved  of  Kentucky  states- 
men— unflinchingly  .stood  by  the  Union,  while  one  of  his  .sons 
wore  the  double  stars  of  a  Union  major  general,  another  achie\-- 
ing  similar  rank  in  the  Confederate  army. 

The  Hemx-  Clay  branch  of  the  great  Clay  family  espoused 
the    Confederate   cau.se.    while    the    Cassius    M.    Clay    l)ranch 


44         Address  of  Mi-.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

fought  with  the   traditional  courage  of  their  race  for  the  soH- 
darity  of  the  Ihiion. 

John  Marshall  Harlan— now  Mr.  Justice  Harlan,  of  the  vSu- 
preme  Court — with  a  pedigree  rumiing  back  to  the  cavaliers 
of  Jamestown — won  retAown  on  many  a  bloody  field,  fighting 
under  "Old  Pap"  Thomas — "the  Rock  of  Chickamauga." 

In  the  same  army  were  Lovell  H.  Rousseau,  the  ideal  sol- 
dier and  princely  gentleman,  and  Benjamin  H.  Bristow,  who 
missed  the  Presidency  only  by  a  scratch  and  through  lack  of 
organization  of  his  forces. 

I  had  two  schoolmates,  older  than  myself,  named  Dickinson, 
beardless  boys  and  brothers,  one  of  whom  enlisted  with  Mor- 
gan as  a  private  and  the  other  in  the  same  capacity  in  brave 
old  Frank  Wolford's  famous  First  Kentucky  Union  Cavalry. 
The  strange  fortunes  of  civil  war  brought  these  brothers  face 
to  face  in  the  great  Indiana-Ohio  raid— the  greatest  ride  ever 
taken  since  horses  were  first  broken  to  bit  and  rein — and 
when  Morgan  was  captured,  the  Confederate  Dickinson  sur- 
rendered to  his  Union  brother. 

In  Missouri,  Thomas  Hart  Benton,  "the  great  Senator," 
a  North  Carolinian  by  birth  and  a  Tennesseean  by  training, 
lost  his  curule  chair  in  1S51  on  the  slavery  question,  and  so 
long  as  he  lived  his  vast  influence  was  for  the  Union;  and 
it  was  his  political  pupil  — Frank  P.  Blair,  a  Kentuckian 
and  a  .slaveholder — who  more  than  any  other  held  Missouri 
to  the  Union,  while  his  cousin.  Gen.  Jo  Shelby,  was  the  beau 
.sabreur  of  the  trans- Mi.ssi.s.sippi  Confederates. 

To  the  same  class  belonged  James  O.  Broadhead,  John  B. 
Henderson,  Edward  Bates,  Hamilton  R.  Gamble,  Willard  P. 
Hall,  John  D.  Stevenson,  Thomas  C.  Fletcher,  Thomas  T. 
Crittenden,  Samuel  T.  Glover,  John  F.  Phillips,  B.  Grat/  Brown, 
John   D.  S.  Dryden,  Janies  S.  Rollins — the  most  brilliant  orator 


Shx/iics  of  T/ioiiias  II.  Jn'ii/oit  and  Frauds  P.  Blatr.     45 

and  one  of  the  largest  slave  owners  in  the  State— and  a  large 
minority,  if  not  a  positive  majority,  of  the  leading  Unionists 
of  Missouri. 

So  far  as  I  know.  onl>-  one  Virginian  of  the  first  rank 
fought  f(n-  the  Union— Gen.  Creorge  H.  Thomas— but  he  was 
a  host  within  himself,  the  greatest  soldier  on  the  Federal 
side,  for  that  will  be  the  verdict  of  posterity  after  the  sleight- 
of-hand  performers  have  done  juggling  the  facts  of  history 
for  political  effect. 

Indeed,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  had  none  of  the  aristcjcratic 
families— wrongfully  so  called— none  of  the  great  families, 
none  of  the  slaveholders  stood  for  the  Union,  Kentuck>-.  Mis- 
souri, and  Maryland  would  have  seceded,  and  if  they  had  gone 
with  the  South  unanimoush-  the  Confederacy  would  ha\'e 
achieved  its  independence;  but  if  those  States  had  been  solidly 
for  the  Union,  if  the  house  had  not  been  hopelessly  divided 
against  itself  in  all  that  region,  the  war  would  not  have  lasted 
half  .so  long  and  William  H.  vSeward's  optimistic  prophecy  of 
a  "ninety  days'  picnic"  would  have  been  fulfilled. 

This  brings  me  to  the  central  idea  of  this  .speech— the  main 
fact — of  which  I  never  think  without  anger  and  resentment, 
for  I  believe  that  justice  should  be  done,  even  in  writing  his- 
tory, though  the  heavens  fall,  and  it  is  this: 

Population  considered.  Kentucky  and  Mi.s.souri  .sent  more 
soldiers  to  the  civil  war  than  any  other  State  and  receive  less 
credit  for  it. 

They  were  .splendid  .soldiers,  too.  Theodore  Roosevelt  .says 
that  by  actual  measurement  the  Kentucky  Union  soldiers  were 
the  finest  specimens  of  physical  manhood  who  were  in  the  Fed- 
eral armies;  and  when  Jefferson  Davis,  him.self  a  renowned 
soldier,  reviewed  the  army  at  Corinth,  he  declared  Cockrell's 
Missouri  brigade  to  be  the  most  magnificent  soldiers  his  trained 
military  eye  had  ever  gazed  upon. 


46        Address  of  Mr.  Clark  oti  tJic  jlcccptaiicc  of  the 

Nevertheless  it  is  difficult  to  induce  extreme  Southerners  to 
admit  that  the  Kentucky  and  Missouri  Confederates  were  o^ood 
Confederates,  though  the  Kentuckians  and  Missourians  made 
a  four  years'  war  possible.  It  is  even  more  difficult  to  induce 
extreme  Northerners,  whose  skins  and  homes  and  property  were 
all  safe  during  the  war,  to  admit  that  the  Unionists  of  Ken- 
tuck\-  and  Missouri  deserve  any  credit,  when  as  a  matter  of 
fact  they  prevented  secession  from  succeeding. 

If  Lovell  H.  Rousseau  had  never  recruited  his  Louisville 
Legion;  if  old  Frank  Wolford  and  Thomas  E.  Bramlette  had 
never  established  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  Kentucky  would  have 
.seceded  and  the  Ohio  River  would  have  been  an  impassable 
barrier  to  the  invading  armies. 

If  Frank  Blair  had  never  captured  Camp  Jackson — for  it 
was  Blair  who  conceived  and  carried  out  that  great  strategic 
movement,  and  not  Gen.  Nathaniel  Lyon,  of  New  England,  as 
the  Northern  war  books  say — Missouri  would  have  joined  the 
Confederacy  under  the  lead  of  Governor  Claiborne  F.  Jack.son 
and  Gen.  Sterling  Price,  the  peerless  soldier,  and  with  her  vast 
resources  to  command,  Lee's  soldiers  would  not  have  been 
starved  and  frozen  into  a  surrender. 

If  the  Government  built  monuments  to  .soldiers  in  proportion 
to  what  they  really  accomplished  for  the  Union  cause,  Frank 
Blair's  would  tower  proudly  among  the  loftiest.  Camp  Jack- 
son is  slurred  over  with  an  occasional  paragraph  in  the  history 
l)ooks,  but  it  was  the  turning  point  in  the  war  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  it  was  the  work  of  Frank  Blair,  the  Ken- 
tuckian,  the  Missourian,  the  sla\-e  owner,  tlie  patrician,  the 
leonine  soldier,   the  patriotic  statesman. 

vSome  da>-  a  Tacitus,  Sismondi,  or  Ma(,aula>-  will  write  a 
truthful  history  of  our  civil  war— the  bloodiest  chapter  in  the 
book  of  time — and  when  it  is  written  the  Kentucky  and  Mis- 
souri heroes,  both  Union  and  Confederate,  will  be  em'obed  in 
innnorlal  ulorw 


S/(7/!n-s  of  Thonia:^  If.  Boitoji  and  Francis  P.  li/air.     47 

It  is  said  that  figures  will  not  lie.  and  here  lliex  are;  To 
tile  I'nion  armies  Missouri  contributed  109,111  soldiers:  Ken- 
tucky, 75,760:  Maryland,  46,638:  Tennessee,  31,092,  and  West 
\'ir!L;inia,   32,068 — niakiui^  a  ,<;rand  total  of  294,669. 

Now,  suppose  a  case.  vSuppose  that  as  tlie  sun  was  setting 
on  the  gory  field  of  Shiloh,  when  Albert  vSidne>-  John.ston  died, 
all  the  Kentuckians,  Mi.ssourians,  and  Teiniesseeans  had  been 
suddenly  subtracted  from  the  Union  Arm\-  and  transferred  to 
the  Confederate  .side.  Can  any  .sane  man  doubt  what  would 
have  happened?  As  certain  as  fate  llly.sses  vSimp.son  Grant 
and  the  renniants  of  his  army  would  have  been  captured  or 
driven  into  the  Tennes.see  and  Beauregard  would  have  fattened 
his  famished  soldiers  on  the  fertile  prairies  of  Illinois  and 
Indiana.  All  the  Buells  and  Nelsons  in  Christendom  could 
not  have  saved  the  .silent  .soldier  had  it  not  been  for  the 
Kentuckians,  Missourians,  and  Tennesseeans  fighting  for  their 
country  there:  and  with  all  Grant's  l)ulldog  tenacity  the  history 
of  \'icksbtirg,  Mi.ssionar\-  Ridge,  Cold  Harbor,  the  Wilderness, 
and  Appomattox  never  would  have  been  written,  for  the  all- 
sufficient  reason  that  there  would  not  have  been  an\-  to  write. 

Suppo.se  another  case.  Suppo.se  that  George  H.  Thomas  had 
gone  with  his  vState,  as  all  his  brothers  in  arms  from  \'irginia 
did,  and  that  when  Pickett  made  his  s])ectacular  charge  at 
Gettysbtirg,  Thomas  had  in  the  nick  of  time  reenforced  him 
with  the  294,669  veteran  Kentuckians,  Missourians,  Mary- 
landers,  West  \"irginians,  and  Tennes.seeans  then  fighting  in 
the  I'nion  armies,  can  any  human  being  fail  to  understand 
what  would  have  been  the  re.sult?  Meade's  grand  arm\-  would 
have  been  ground  to  powder,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Har- 
ri.sburg,  Washington,  New  York  wotild  have  been  taken,  the 
nations  of  Europe  would  have  run  races  with  each  other  to 
recognize  the  independence  of  the  Confederacy,  and  more  aid 
than   he    needed   would    have    been    freely  tendered   Jeflferson 


48         Address  of  Mr.  C  lark  on  tJie  Acceptance  of  the 

Davis  to  enable  him  to  realize  the  aspirations  of  the  vSoiith 
for  a  separate  government. 

In  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  conduct  of  the  border  vStates 
during  the  war  and  of  how  the  slaveholders  therein  fought 
valiantly  for  their  own  undoing,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  when  Abraham  Lincoln  said  in  his  first  inaugural  address: 

I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right 
to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so- 

he  did  more  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  than  was  done 
by  all  the  .speeches,  great  and  .small,  delivered  since  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues  at  the  Tower  of  Babel,  for  that  one  declara- 
tion held  hundreds  of  thousands  in  the  border  States  faithful  to 
the  Union  who  otherwise  and  naturally  would  have  gone  with 
the  vSouth.  The  Kentuckians  and  Missourians  belong  to  that 
class  who,  having  put  their  hands  to  the  plow,  do  not  look 
back,  and  they  fought  on  after  the  emancipation  proclamation 
as  bravely  and  doggedly  as  before. 

It  may  be  that  the  fact  that  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Jefferson 
Davis  were  both  Kentuckians,  born  within  a  few  miles  of  each 
other,  added  fuel  Id  the  flames  throughout  Kentuck\  and 
Mi.ssouri  and  where\'er  the  Kentuckians  had  .settled  in  large 
numbers.  The  accident  of  their  birth  in  the  same  vicinity  con- 
tributed to  the  awful  tragedy  the  element  of  feud,  inlierent  in 
the  Kentucky  character. 

At  any  rate,  Lincoln  understood  the  Kentuckians  ami  Mi.s- 
sourians  better  than  an>'  other  Republican  President,  and  to 
the  day  of  his  death  they  had  a  warm  place  in  his  sympathetic 
heait. 

More  than  all  this,  the  border  vStale  men  fought,  whatever 
their  rank. 

The  only  instance  on  record  during  the  entire  war  of  one 
field  ofiiicer  killing  another  in   battle  was  at    Mill   .Spring,  wlien 


S^aZ/us  of  ThoDhxs  If.  ficii/oi  a//i/  /-'/(r/zcis  ]\  Blair.     49 

Geti.  Sj^eed  vSinith  Fry,  of  Kentucky,  a  Union  soldier,  shot  and 
killed  ("ieneral  Zollicoffer,  coniniandin^^  a  ])rigade  of  Tennessee 
Confederates.  The  ouIn'  jjarallel  to  this  sang-uinary  perform- 
ance in  all  our  military  annals  was  the  killing  of  Tecumseh,  at 
the  battle  of  the  river  Thames,  by  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
another  Kentuckian,  popularly  called  "Old  Dick." 

Ed  Porter  Thompson,  of  Kentucky,  a  Confederate  captain, 
hobbled  into  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro  on  his  crutches,  and  for 
two  days  fought  side  b>-  side  with  those  possessing  the  soundest 
and  most  stalwart  legs,  thereby  rivaling  the  far-resounding  feats 
of  Charles  XII  of  vSweden  at  Pultowa  and  Gen.  Joseph  Wheeler 
at  Santiago  of  being  carried  into  battle  upon  a  stretcher. 

One  of  my  own  constituents,  P.  Wells,  is  the  only  soldier, 
living  or  dead,  so  far  as  history  tells,  that  ever  had  a  wooden 
leg  shot  off  in  battle,  for  the  reason,  perhaps,  that  he  is  the 
only  soldier  that  ever  went  into  battle  with  a  wooden  leg.  He 
survived  his  wound  to  become  a  wealthy  and  enthusiastic 
Populist. 

In  Mis.souri  the  war  was  waged  wath  unspeakable  bitterness, 
sometimes  with  inhuman  cruelty.  It  was  fought  by  men  in 
single  combat,  in  squads,  in  companies,  in  regiments,  in  great 
armies,  in  the  open,  in  fortified  towns,  and  in  ambush,  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  under  the  Stars  and  Bars,  and  under  the 
black  flag.  The  arch  fiend  himself  seems  to  have  been  on  the 
field  in  person,  inspiring,  directing,  commanding.  Up  in  north 
Missouri  Gen.  John  McNeil  took  12  innocent  men  out  and  shot 
them  in  cold  blood,  because  it  was  supposed  that  .some  bush- 
whacker had  killed  a  Union  man.  That  is  known  in  local 
history  as  "the  Palmyra  massacre,"  and  has  "  dannicd  "  John 
McNeil  "  to  everlasting  fame."  It  turned  out  afterwards  that 
the  Union  man  was  still  alive,  and  so  the  12  men  had  died  in 
vain — even  according  to  the  hard  rule  of^lex  talionis. 
S.  Doc.  456 4 


50         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

At  Centralia  one  day  a  Wabash  train  containing  more  than 
30  Union  soldiers  was  captured  by  Bill  Anderson,  a  guerrilla 
chief,  who  had  sustained  some  grievous  personal  injury  at  the 
hands  of  the  Unionists,  and  whose  blood  some  subtle  mental 
alchemy  had  converted  into  gall.  He  deliberately  took  them 
out  and  shot  them  every  one,  as  though  they  had  been  so  many 
wolves. 

Having  completed  that  gory  job,  he  marched  out  to  a  skirt 
of  timber,  about  a  mile  from  town,  and  camped  at  the  foot  of 
a  long,  gentle  prairie  slope.  Shortly  after  a  certain  Colonel 
Johnson,  with  a  body  of  Union  cavalry,  followed  him  and  took 
position  on  the  ridge  of  the  prairie.  The  sight  of  them  made 
Anderson  wild  with  delight  and  whetted  his  appetite  for  blood; 
so  he  mounted  his  80  men,  the  most  superb  horsemen  in  the 
world,  who,  with  bridle  reins  between  their  teeth  and  a  navy 
revolver  in  each  hand,  rode  up  on  Johnson's  160  men,  whom 
he  had  foolishly  dismounted,  and,  firing  to  right  and  left,  killed 
143  of  them,  and  would  have  killed  the  other  17  if  they  could 
have  been  caught.  Only  one  man  was  taken  alive,  and  he  badly 
wounded,  the  legend  in  the  neighborhood  being  that  he  saved 
himself  by  giving  the  Masonic  sign  of  distress. 

Such  are  samples  of  the  civil  war  in  Missouri  and  Kentuckj-. 

The  survivors  of  those  cruel  days,  Union  and  Confederate, 
are  now  living  side  by  side,  cultivating  assiduously  the  arts  of 
peace  in  the  imperial  Commonwealth  of  Missouri — the  most 
delectable  place  for  human  habitation  beneath  the  stars. 

A    PIOXEER    PEACKMAKEK. 

Lately  we  have  heard  a  vast  deal  of  eloquence  about  a 
reunited  countr>-.  Thirty-two  years  after  Appomattox  men 
are  accounted  orators,  .statesmen,  and  philanthropists  because 
they  grandiloquently  declare  that  at  last  the  time  has  arrived 


Siafiu's  of  Tho)iias  H.  Boiton  and  Frai/iis  l\  Blair.      51 

to  bury  the  animosities  of  the  civil  war  in  a  grave  upon  whose 
headstone  shall  be  inscribed,  "No  Resurrection."  I  would  not 
detract  even  in  the  estimation  of  a  hair  from  the  fame  of  these 
eleventh-hour  pacificators.  I  humbly  and  fervently  thank 
Almighty  God  that  the  country  is  reunited. 

When  I  look  into  the  faces  of  my  little  children,  my  heart 
swells  with  ineffable  pride  to  think  that  they  are  citizens  of  this 
great  Republic,  one  and  indivisible,  which  is  destined  not  for 
a  day,  but  for  all  time,  and  which  will  be  the  crowning  glory 
and  dominating  influence  of  all  the  centuries  yet  to  be.  Btit  if 
we  applaud  these  ex  post  facto  peacemakers  and  shed  tears  of 
joy  over  their  belated  pathos,  what  shall  be  our  meed  of  praise, 
the  measure  of  our  gratitude,  the  manifestation  of  our  admira- 
tion, the  expression  of  our  love  for  Frank  Blair,  the  magnifi- 
cent Missourian,  the  splendid  American,  who,  with  his  military 
laurels  fresh  upon  him,  within  a  few  days  after  Lee  surren- 
dered, returned  to  his  State,  which  had  been  ravaged  by  fire 
and  sword,  holding  aloft  the  olive  branch,  proclaiming  to  the 
world  that  there  were  no  rebels  any  more,  that  his  fellow-citi- 
zens who  had  fought  for  the  South  were  entitled  to  equal 
respect  and  equal  rights  with  other  citizens,  and  that  real  peace 
must  "tinkle  on  the  shepherd's  bells  and  sing  among  the 
reapers"  of  Missouri?  He  took  the  ragged  and  defeated  Con- 
federates by  the  hand  and,  in  the  words  of  Abraham  to  Lot, 
said,  "  We  be  brethren." 

The  truly  brave, 
When  they  behold  the  brave  oppressed  with  odds, 
Are  touched  with  a  desire  to  shield  and  save. 

[Applause.] 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  very  angels  in  heaven,  looking  down 
with  approving  eyes  upon  his  magnanimous  conduct,  must 
have  sung,  in  full  chorus,  the  .song  of  nineteen  hundred  years 
ago,  "On  earth,  peace;  good  will  toward  men." 


52         Address  of  Mr.  Clark  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

King  Solomon  says: 

To  every  thinj^  there  is  a  season  and  a  time  to  every  purpose  under 
heaven:  A  time  to  kill,  and  a  time  to  heal. 

In  the  time  for  killing,  Frank  Bi.air  was  one  of  the  most 
persistent  fighters.  When  the  time  for  healing  came,  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  pour  the  balm  of  consolation  into  bruised 
hearts  and  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds. 

In  the  Army  he  was  one  of  the  favorite  lieutenants  of  Ulysses 
Simpson  Grant,  who  with  knightly  honor  resolutely  and  cour- 
ageously kept  his  plighted  faith  to  Lee,  thereby  preventing  an 
aftermath  of  death  at  the  very  thought  of  which  the  world 
grows  pale. 

In  the  fierce  and  all-pervading  light  of  history,  which  beats 
not  upon  thrones  alone,  but  upon  all  high  places  as  well, 
Blair  will  stand  side  by  side  with  the  invincible  soldier  who 
said,  "Let  us  have  peace"— the  noblest  words  that  ever  fell 
from  martial  lips. 


Statues  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     53 


Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  vSpeaker,  Missouri  presents  to-day  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  statues  of  two  of  her  honored  dead  and  asks  that 
they  may  be  received  and  placed  in  Statuary  Hall  in  this  Capitol 
as  a  permanent  memorial  not  onh-  of  her  devotion  to  their 
memory,  but  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  few  men  have 
accomplished  more  for  this  nation  than  they  have  done. 

The  cold  marble,  fashioned  through  skill  and  energy  to  repre- 
sent the  body  of  the  living  or  the  dead,  is  one  of  the  wonderful 
achievements  of  the  ages.  Two  excellent  evidences  of  perfec- 
tion in  this  art  are  presented  here  to-day.  It  was  never  my 
privilege  to  see  either  of  the  extraordinary  characters  thus 
shown  in  .statuary  form,  but  the  names  of  Benton  and  Blair 
are  household  words  in  Missouri,  and  are  recognized  anywhere 
as  the  names  of  prominent  characters  in  national  history. 

It  is  claimed  by  those  who  should  know  that  these  statues 
are  hfelike;  but,  sir,  these  inanimate  representations,  perfect  as 
they  may  l:>e,  have  not  the  vital  force  of  the  living  being,  and 
but  serve  to  show  the  weakness  of  man  in  his  efforts  to  repro- 
duce that  from  which  the  providence  of  God  has  withdrawn  the 
breath  of  life. 

Among  the  great  men  of  this  nation  who  have  had  part  in  its 
achievements,  who  have  secured  place  in  the  hearts  of  their 
countrymen,  and  who  have  left  indelible  impress  for  good,  few 
have  ever  been  entitled  to  greater  honor  and  re.spect  than 
Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  jr. 

Missouri  does  not  present  these  emblems  in  stone  simplj-  as 
matter  of  form — that  it  may  have  the  honor  of  representation 
in  yonder  Statuary  Hall,  once  the  National  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives— but  that  it  may  discharge  a  duty  in  showing  appre- 
ciation of  its  honored  dead.     It  would  teach  its  youth  to  cherish 


54         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  tJic  Acceptance  of  the 

the  memory  of  those  who  have  biiiU  \\\>  its  institutions  and 
given  the  State  such  high  place.  It  would  remind  them  to 
look  with  admiration  upon  the  good  deeds  of  its  great  men, 
and  to  ever  show  respect  to  the  dead  whose  lives  were  spent  in 
successful  achievement  for  their  country's  honor  and  develop- 
ment. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  contrast  the  characters  of  Blair  and 
Benton.  I  have  not  one  word  to  say  in  disparagement  of 
either,  but  it  is  understood  that  \\\y  remarks  shall  be  directed 
mainly  to  the  statue  of  Colonel  Benton,  as  others  will  pay  the 
tribute  to  General  Blair  which  his  distinguished  services  and 
personal  character  so  richly  deserve. 

Thoma.s  Hart  Benton  was  born  in  the  last  year  of  that 
eventful  period  in  national  history,  the  Revolutionary  war, 
within  two  months  of  the  birth  of  Daniel  Webster.  His 
birthplace  was  near  Hillsboro,  in  Orange  County,  N.  C.  His 
ancestors  were  among  the  leaders  of  the  Revolution  of  1775, 
and  contributed  largely  in  every  way  to  the  service  of  their 
country.  Col.  Jesse  Benton,  his  father,  was  a  gentleman  of 
excellent  character  and  a  lawyer  of  recognized  ability.  His 
mother  was  Ann  Gooch,  of  the  Gooch  family  of  \"irginia.  A 
lady  of  strong  and  resolute  character,  she  possessed  unusual 
mental  endowment,  and  her  literary  acquirements  were  good 
for  the  period.  At  the  age  of  8  years  it  was  Mr.  Benton's 
misfortune  to  lose  his  father,  he  being  the  eldest  of  several 
children  left  in  the  care  of  the  mother.  While  he  obtained 
his  education,  in  the  most  part,  in  private  schools,  he  also 
spent  some  time  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at  Chapel 
Hill,  tliough  he  did  not  graduate  from  the  institution. 

But  few  years  elapsed  after  his  father's  death  until  his 
mother,  with  her  children,  moved  to  Tennessee  and  lived  upon 
a  large  landed  estate  which  had  been  left  b>-  her  husband.      She 


S/a/iirs  of  r/tonias  //.  Ih->ilon  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     55 
succeeded   well   in   the  development  of   the   estate   and   in  the 
acquisition  of  property,  considering  the  fact  that  they  were  on 
the  frontier,  or  nearly  so,  of  civilization.     He  studied  law,  but 
in  the  meantime  tau-ht  in  a  small  school  on  Duck  Creek,  near 
Franklin,  in  that  State.     He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Frank- 
lin, the  home  of  the  present  distinguished  Representative  from 
thai   district    [Mr.  Cox],  and  there  began   the   practice  of  his 
profession.      Shortly  afterwards  he  was  elected   to  the    legis- 
lature of    that  State  and  distinguished  himself    in  his  efforts 
to  secure  the  passage  of  two  bills,  one  for  the  reform  of  the 
judicial  system  and  the  other  in  which  the  same  right  of  trial 
by  jury  was  given  to  slaves  as  to  white  men. 

At  the  close  of  this  service  he  moved  to  Nashville,  the 
beautiful  capital  of  that  State,  near  the  attractive  home  of 
his  friend  and  admirer,  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  afterwards 
President  Jackson.  This  home,  known  as  the  Hermitage,  is 
carefully  preserved  up  to  the  present  time  and  is  about  12 
miles  distant  from  Nashville.  General  Jackson  took  an  active 
interest  in  Mr.  Benton  and  assisted  him  very  greatly  m 
securing  position  at  the  bar. 

From  Foote's  Bench  and  Bar  of  the  South  and  Southwest  we 
learn  that  Mr.  BenTon  formed  a  partnership  for  the  practice  of 
the  law  at  Nashville  with  the  late  O.  B.  Hayes,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  of    liberal   education   and    more  than  ordinary 

abilitv. 

In  the  war  of  1812  young  Benton  was  General  Jackson's  aid- 
de-camp  for  a  short  time.  He  also  raised  a  regiment  of  vol- 
unteers, but  had  no  opportunity  to  engage  in  actual  warfare. 
But  no  one  doubts  his  courage  or  his  ability,  if  opportunity  had 
come  to  him,  to  meet  an  enemy  on  the  field  of  battle.  In  1813 
he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  United  States 
Armv  bv  President  Madison.     He  at  once  started  to  Canada, 


56         Addrc'ss  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  the  Acccpfaficc  of  the 

but  on  his  way  learned  that  peace  had  been  declared,  and, 
returning,  he  resigned  his  commission.  Thus  ended  a  short 
Init  willing  service,  for  no  man  of  his  day  was  more  patriotic, 
and  none  braver  could  be  found.  The  laurels  which  come 
from  victorious  conflict  could  not  be  claimed  for  him,  l)Ut  his 
devotion  to  his  country  is  fully  shown  by  his  voluntary  offer 
to  assist  it. 

In  18 1 5  he  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Louis  and  began  the 
practice  of  law.  On  account  of  his  integrity,  legal  knowledge, 
energy,  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  clients,  he  soon  built 
up  a  good  practice.  He  became  connected  during  that  time 
with  a  newspaper  at  St.  Louis,  which  gave  him  opportunity  to 
reach  the  people.  He  advocated  vigorously  such  matters  as  he 
believed  were  for  the  interests  of  the  growing  West.  He  made 
a  .strong  fight  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  Missouri  to  the 
Union  notwithstanding  her  slavery  constitution.  The  stand 
taken  in  this  matter  had  more  to  do  than  any  one  thing,  per- 
haps, in  giving  him  the  prominence  which  secured  him  the 
distinguished  honor  of  being  one  of  the  first  two  Senators 
elected  by  that  vState  in  the  j^ear  1820. 

vSir,  we  now  approach  the  greater  work  of  Colonel  Bextox — 
that  broad  field  of  labor  in  which  he  wrought  so  mightily  for 
mankind.  The  results  achieved  here  will  live  in  American 
history  long  after  the  enduring  statue  shall  have  become 
clouded  with  age.  I  have  not  the  time  to  elal)orate  on  his 
great  service  as  a  public  servant,  and  can  only,  in  a  very 
general  way,  refer  to  his  labors  and  to  a  few  of  the  vital 
questions  which  engaged  his  attention.  He  went  into  the 
Senate  as  a  representative  of  the  West  and  Western  sentiment. 
He  could  hardly  be  classed  as  belonging  to  either  the  North 
or  the  South  at  any  period  in  his  history,  for  while  he  was 
himself  a  slave  owner  he  was  an  ardent  Union  man,  and  was 


Sfa/iirs  of  Thomas  II.  Bcnto)i  and  Francis  I\  lUair.     57 

chiefly  ccMiccrned  that  the  Ha^  ot  his  country  should  ever 
wave  over  a  united  people.  He  condennied  the  Hartford 
convention  in  its  disunion  sentiment,  and  ever  re^^arded  his 
country  as  more  important  than  any  part  of  it. 

Colonel  Benton  was  fully  imbued  with  the  political  teach- 
ings of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  founder  of  the  Democratic  school 
of  statesmanship,  and  was  the  very  impersonation  of  the  genius 
of  the  West,  where  these  theories  had  taken  their  deepest  root. 
He  knew  better  than  anyone  who  preceded  him  its  needs,  its 
capabilities,  and  its  destinies.  He  devoted  himself  with  all 
of  his  unusual  powers  of  l)ody  and  mind  to  the  important 
duty  of  supplying  these  wants,  showing  its  capa])ilities,  and 
in  preparing  the  way  for  its  future  development.  He 
sought  to  expose  to  public  gaze  the  vicious  legislation  that 
so  hampered  its  growth  and  chained  its  giant  energies. 

This  unfortunate  condition  resulted  in  part  from  ignorance 
and  largely  from  that  local,  selfish  class  interest  which  fixes 
it.self  upon  every  object  from  wdiich  it  may  draw  strength.  He 
insisted  that  the  pro.sperity  of  the  West  would  be  shared  by 
every  other  section.  He  demanded  the  repeal  of  those  laws 
by  which  her  lands  were  withheld  from  cultivation  and  settle- 
•ment  that  they  might  be  purchased  and  controlled  by  specu- 
lators; by  which  her  mines  and  saline  lands  were  leased  out 
to  rich  syndicates  without  gain  to  anyone,  and  l^y  which  the 
necessaries  of  life  were  taxed  to  pay  bounties  to  .some  losing 
trade  in  another  section.  He  believed  in  the  fundamental  doc- 
trine of  equahty  before  the  law.  He  resolved  to  attack  and 
overthrow  these  monsters  of  evil  because  they  were  in  opposi- 
tion to  that  basic  principle  of  the  Republic. 

The  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  the  source  of  all  national  pros- 
perity; it  gives  comfort  and  independence  to  the  people,  and 
is  that  upon  which  the   nation    must   draw   for  its    revenue. 


58         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

strength,  and  stability.  At  the  time  of  Colonel  Benton's 
entry  into  politics  the  minimum  price  for  public  lands  was  $2 
per  acre;  but  none  could  be  bought  at  that  sinn  until  it  had 
first  been  exposed  at  public  sales  to  the  highest  bidder  and 
rejected.  The  result  naturally  was  that  speculators  bought  the 
best  lands  and  held  them  up  for  higher  prices,  and  none  but 
refuse  lands  could  be  bought  by  the  actual  settlers  at  the  mini- 
mum Government  price. 

No  one  could  go  on  public  lands  before  sale,  for  he  was  then 
treated  as  a  trespasser  and  was  likely  to  be  ejected  by  military 
authority.  The  mineral  and  saline  lands  were  held  by  monop- 
olists, so  that  the  poor  and  struggling  pioneer  had  but  little 
chance  in  the  race  of  life.  No  scheme  could  have  been  devised 
better  calculated  to  keep  the  growth  of  the  country  in  check 
or  to  prevent  the  settlement  and  cultivation  of  it. 

Colonel  Benton,  the  first  great  statesman  of  the  West — the 
only  one  of  his  time  west  of  the  Mississippi  River — who  was 
classed  with  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun,  championed  early  in 
his  eventful  career  the  cause  of  the  people,  and  sought  the 
enactment  of  such  laws  as  would  secure  the  development  of 
the  country  whose  oppression  he  deplored  and  whose  interests 
were  his  own.  He  believed  that  preemption,  graduation,  and 
homestead  would  cause  this  neglected  portion  of  the  vast 
domain  to  be  dotted  over  with  homes  of  u.seful,  industrious,  and 
happy  people,  who  would  luring  to  the  bar  of  their  country's 
wealth  the  fruits  of  the  possibilities  of  that  matchless  region, 
and  that  soon  after  its  adoption  the  whole  nation  would  be 
astonished  at  its  rapid  development,  and  would  rejoice  in  its 
unexpected  achievement. 

He  accordingly  introduced  a  bill  which  provided  for  the  right 
of  preemption  to  the  actual  .settler  at  the  mininunn  price,  the 
reduction  of  the  price  of  the  land,  the  graduation  of  the  prices 


Staines  of  TJionias  II.  Ih'iifoii  a)id  Francis  P.  Blair.     59 

of  refuse  lands  in  ])r()]K)rti()ii  to  the  time  the\"  had  been  in  the 
market,  and  the  donati(Mi  of  homesteads  to  impoverished  Init 
indnstrioiis  persons  who  would  cultivate  the  land  for  a  given 
period.  He  began  this  battle  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
farmer  and  laborer  of  that  section  almost  alone.  He  renewed 
his  bills  for  these  purposes  with  each  succeeding  Congress,  and 
developed  the  whole  subject  by  throwing  upon  it  the  calcium 
light  of  truth  with  that  unequaled  industry  and  energy  for 
which  he  was  distinguished  above  all  public  men. 

He  reproduced  these  speeches  in  the  newspaper  and  upon 
the  rostrum,  calling  the  people's  attention  to  the  importance 
of  the  proposed  legislation  and  hoping  that  they  would  compel 
Congress  to  adopt  his  measures.  The  contest  was  long  and 
arduous;  it  was  met  with  the  most  determined  opposition.  His 
plans  were  thwarted  from  time  to  time  by  schemes  for  the 
distribution  of  the  lands  or  the  proceeds  of  their  sale  among 
the  States,  which  held  out  a  glittering  argument  of  greed  and 
gain  as  a  pecuniary  incentive  to  deny  these  great  measures  of 
justice  to  the  undeveloped  West.  But  defeat  and  delay  left 
him  undaunted,  and  with  greater  determination  and  earnest- 
ness he  pressed  the  battle,  gaining  strength  for  his  cause  with 
each  successive  engagement.  A  single  quotation  from  one  of 
his  speeches  will  serve  to  show  the  scope  of  his  reasoning: 

The  example  of  all  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  republican  and  mon- 
archical, is  in  favor  of  giving  lands  in  parcels  suitable  to  their  wants  to 
meritorioi;s  cultivators.  There  is  not  an  instance  upon  earth,  except  that 
of  our  own  Federal  Government,  which  made  merchandise  of  land  to  its 
own  citizens,  exacted  the  highest  price  it  could  obtain,  and  refused  to 
.suffer  tlie  country  to  be  settled  until  it  was  paid  for.  The  promi.sed  land 
was  divided  among  the  children  of  Israel.  All  the  Atlantic  States,  when 
British  colonies,  were  settled  upon  gratuitous  donations  or  nominal  sales. 

Kentucky  and  Tenne.ssee  were  chiefly  settled  in  the  same  way.  The  two 
Floridas  and  Upper  and  Lower  Louisiana  were  gratuitously  distributed  by 
the  kings  of  Spain  to  settlers,  in  quantities  adapted  to  their  means  of 
cultivation,  and  with  the  whole  vacant  domain  to  select  from,  according 


6o         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

to  their  pleasure.  Mr.  Burke,  in  his  great  argument  in  the  British  Par- 
liament upon  the  sale  of  the  Crown  lands,  said  he  considered  the  revenue 
derived  from  the  sale  of  such  lands  as  a  trifle  of  no  account  compared 
to  the  amount  of  the  revenue  derivable  from  the  same  lands  through 
their  settlement  and  cultivation. 

Colonel  Bextox'S  advanced  and  statesmanlike  views  finally 
took  hold  upon  the  country.  They  were  adopted  by  other 
public  men,  who  took  up  the  cause  and  assisted  in  its  work, 
while  the  people  rallied  to  his  support.  General  Jackson  and 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  their  messages  to  Congress  on  these  ques- 
tions, embodied  his  ideas  in  recommendations.  Many  of  the 
States  embraced  his  measures,  and  in  many  ways  public  interest 
was  aroused  until  their  passage  was  secured.  The  great  West, 
in  its  development  of  this  age,  is  the  monument  to  the  enact- 
ment of  that  and  other  beneficent  measures  in  which  he  took 
prominent  part.  He  who  holds  his  farm  by  preemption  right 
to-day,  or  through  the  graduation  laws,  or  has  been  enabled  to 
make  a  happy  home  for  himself  and  family  through  the  home- 
stead enactments,  should  accord  to  Colonel.  Bkxtox  the  meed 
of  praise  for  securing  these  legal  rights.  It  is  no  exaggerated 
eulogy  to  attribute  to  him  the  first  place  among  those  who 
wrought  so  well  as  to  make  possible  the  development  of  the 
West  and  to  show  its  colossal  greatness. 

Conspicuous  among  these  efforts  at  reform  and  legislation  for 
the  masses  was  the  overthrow  of  the  salt  tax.  This  article,  so 
vital  to  our  well-being,  almost  as  necessary  as  the  water  we 
drink,  wms  enormously  taxed  in  order  to  pay  a  bounty  to  an 
unimportant  interest  in  New  England.  When  once  these  class 
interests  have  secured  footing,  their  tenacity  is  .so  great  that  it 
becomes  almost  impossible  to  make  them  release  their  hold. 
This  tax  was  onerous  and  distressing  to  the  whole  country, 
but  especially  .so  to  the  We.st.  Colonel  Bentox  made  war 
upon  it.      It   was  a  m()noi-)()ly,  seizing  an   object  of  imivensal 


ShT flies  of  TlioDias  II.  Boiloii  and  Francis  P.  Blair,     6i 

necessity  and  taxing  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  few.  As  such, 
he  hated  it;  he  wrote  and  spoke  against  it  until  the  whole 
country  was  aroused.  He  portrayed  what  would  be  the  result 
of  class  legislation  in  an  alarming  manner;  but  little,  however, 
did  he  realize,  with  all  his  gifted  forethought,  what  influence 
monopoly,  trusts,  and  classes  would  have  upon  the  vital  ener- 
gies of  the  country  he  loved  so  well  at  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

His  power  in  speech  was  now  universally  recognized.  In 
Bungay's  Offhand  Takings  of  Noticeable  Men  of  Our  Age,  he 
said  of  Colonel  Kkxton: 

As  a  speaker  he  is  more  argumentative  than  eloquent,  more  philo- 
sophical than  poetical;  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Benton,  and  Cass  were 
to  the  United  States  Senate  what  the  five  senses  are  to  the  human 
system. 

In  Bateman's  Biographies  of  Distinguished  National   Men  it 

is  said: 

Mr.  Benton  was  distinguished  by  great  learning,  an"  iron  will,  practical 
mind,  and  strong  memory.  His  speeches  when  written  were  firmly  fixed 
in  his  mind,  so  that  he  could  repeat  them  accurately  in  public  without 
the  manuscript.  He  was  industrious,  determined,  and  unyielding,  with 
poclcets  overflowing  with  statistics,  and  his  head  full  of  historical  lore. 

In  biographical  sketches  found  in  the  United  States  Demo- 
cratic Review  for  the  year  1858  one  of  Colonel  Benton's 
associates  in  the  Senate  relates  an  incident  which  shows  the 
effects  of  his  speeches  in  a  very  forceful  way. 

A  subject  of  some  interest  had  been  under  discussion  for 
several  days.  At  the  commencement  of  the  debate  Mr.  Clay 
had  spoken  against  the  measure.  Prior  to  the  taking  of  the 
vote  Mr.  Benton  got  the  floor  and  spoke  with  unusual  effect 
for  more  than  an  hour,  his  argument  being  mainly  a  reply  to 
the  speech  of  Mr.  Clay.  To  the  surprise  of  the  whole  Senate, 
when  the  vote  was  taken  Mr.  Clay  voted  for  the  bill,  and  thus 
secured   its  pas.sage.      Mr.  Cla\-  explained    the   reason   of    this 


62         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

apparent  inconsistency  between  his  speech  and  vote  by  saying 
that  he  "could  not  help  it;"  that  Colonel  Benton  had  con- 
vinced him  that  the  view  he  had  taken  was  wrong,  not  so 
much  from  his  reasoning  as  from  something  connected  with 
his  speech,  but  what  that  something  was  he  could  not  explain. 
It  is  said  that  Mr.  Cla>'  did  not  stand  alone  in  this  singularity, 
for  Mr.  Webster  had  made  a  like  remark  as  to  the  effect  of 
Benton's  speeches  upon  himself. 

His  efforts  to  overthrow  bank  paper  was  the  climax,  perhaps, 
of  his  energy  and  ability.  The  speeches  he  made  on  that  sub- 
ject were  the  best  and  strongest  he  ever  made.  He  was  Presi- 
dent Jackson's  support  in  that  great  contest  which  liberated 
the  Government  of  the  people  from  the  thraldom  of  the  bank. 
He  was  the  mouthpiece  of  the  people  and  the  Administration. 
Pitted  against  him  were  Webster  and  Clay,  whose  eloquence 
always  swayed  the  Senate  and  the  nation.  Accordingly  the 
success  of  Colonel  Benton's  cause,  when  we  consider  the 
charm  of  their  oratory  and  the  beauty  and  power  of  expres- 
sion which  characterized  all  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  these 
illustrious  men,  can  hardly  be  accounted  for  except  through 
his  own  power  of  speech  and  the  righteousness  of  the  cause 
which  he  so  clearly  demonstrated  and  so  ably  upheld. 

Colonel  Benton  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  Government  .should  extend  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  He  gloried  in  the  genius  of  Jefferson  in 
securing  the  acquisition  of  what  was  known  as  the  Louisiana 
purchase.  When  Texas  was  exchanged  for  Florida  by  the 
treaty  of  1819  and  the  joint  occupation  of  Oregon  was  conceded 
to  Great  Britain  in  1820,  Colonel  Benton  raised  his  voice 
against  it,  and  though  others  could  not  see  the  neces.sity  for 
these  regions.  Colonel  Benton's  prophetic  vision  already  saw 


S/{7/urs  of  Thomas  II.  Bciiton  and  Francis  [\  lilair.     63 

them    peopled  with  vast    cities,    marking    the   hi.t^^hway    of   the 

wHirld's   commerce.      He    coiulemned    the   statesmen   who  were 

thus  wilhiig:  to  set   a   hmit   to   the  boundaries   of   the  country 

because  they  could  not    foresee  the    future    which   would    fill 

them  with  a  teeming  population,  and  in  that  connection  used 

these  remarkable  words: 

The  magnificent  valley  of  the  Mississippi  is  ours,  with  all  its  fountain 
springs  and  floods,  and  woe  to  the  statesman  who  shall  undertake  to  sur- 
render one  drop  of  its  water  or  one  inch  of  its  soil  to  any  foreign  power. 

He  renounced  the  treaty  for  the  joint  occupation  of  Oregon 
with  the  British  and  urged  the  policy  of  planting  it  with  an 
American  colony.  He  made  him.self  familiar  with  all  that 
country  lying  between  the  Missis.sippi  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  hunters  and  trappers,  fur  traders,  Indian  agents,  Army 
officers,  and  others  who  visited  the  great  West  made  their 
headquarters  and  place  of  outfit  at  St.  Louis.  He  talked  with 
all  these,  entertained  them  at  his  home,  and  was  their  friend. 
He  knew  more  of  the  country  than  those  who  had  spent  years 
in  it,  because  he  sought  to  know  everything  that  was  known 
by  all  who  had  l)een  there. 

He  and  his  colleague,  Dr.  Linn,  con.stantly  urged  the  planting 
of  an  American  colony  in  the  place  of  that  founded  by  John 
Jacob  Astor.  They  sought  to  induce  colonists,  by  donations 
of  land  and  military  protection  on  the  route  and  in  the  Ter- 
ritory, to  settle  in  the  then  far-off  land.  The.se  measures 
finally  rewarded  their  efforts;  the  colony  was  planted,  the 
joint  occupation  by  the  British  terminated  by  treaty,  the 
route  to  the  distant  Oregon  explored  by  scientific  officers, 
and  the  results  have  been  promulgated.  Lieutenant  Fremont, 
at  that  time  an  officer  of  engineers  in  the  Lnited  States  Army, 
a  sou-iu-law  of  Colonel  Benton,  had  nuich  to  do  with  these 


64         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  oil  the  Acceptance  of  the 

explorations  and  in  the  additions  made  to  science  and  geograph- 
ical knowledge.  Lieutenant  Fremont  for  years  traveled  over 
the  West,  and  the  intimate  relation  existing  between  him  and 
Colonel  Benton  was  such  that  the  early  settlers  of  all  the 
Western  country  learned  to  feel  that  their  chief  advocate  at 
the  national  capital  was  Colonel  Benton. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  matters  in  Colonel  Benton's 
official  career  to  which  I  should  refer  did  not  limited  time 
prevent.  I  wish,  however,  to  call '  attention  to  his  views  on 
the  slavery  question.  It  was  his  belief  that  there  was  a  settled 
plan  and  determination  on  the  part  of  certain  eminent  leaders 
to  bring  about  a  separation  of  the  States.  He  repeatedly 
expressed  this  belief,  and  in  the  contest  in  1850,  when  he 
was  a  candidate  for  the  sixth  time  for  the  position  which 
he  had  filled  with  so  much  credit,  his  views  on  the  slavery 
question  were  an  element  in  the  campaign,  and  were  the  cause, 
as  most  persons  believe,  of  his  defeat.  The  bitter  experience 
of  that  deadly  strife,  of  which  his  rejection  for  the  Senate 
was  one  of  the  opening  scenes,  may  well  remind  us  of  the 
warning  he  uttered  in  vain,  and  of  the  sacrifices  he  made  of 
himself  to  save  his  State  and  country. 

Even  those  to  whom  his  fiery  zeal  in  defense  of  the  endan- 
gered Union  gave  offense  will  not  now  fail  to  honor  the  noble 
magnanimity  and  lofty  patriotism  which  prompted  him  to  make 
the  contest.  Personal  feeling  ran  high  at  that  time  in  Mis- 
souri. After  his  defeat  the  people  of  his  adopted  city  elected 
him  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  when  some  of  his 
friends  were  rejoicing  over  his  victory  in  this  contest  he  used 
these  words,  "Exaltation,  my  friend,  is  natural,  but  moderation 
is  the  ornament  of  victory."  There  never  was  a  time  when 
he  was  not  devoted  to  his  country.  He  was  anxious  that  futu- 
rity should  find  it  united  and  the  States  harmoniously  living 
Uix  the  development  of  their  common  interests. 


S/aiiu'S  of  Tlio»ias  //.  Bc)ito)i  coid  Francis  P.  />/n/r.      65 

He  served  but  one  term  in  the  House  of  Representatives;  he 
was  defeated  for  reelection.  In  1856  he  was  a  candidate  for 
governor.  On  account  of  (li\-isi()n  in  his  own  ])art>-  he  was 
defeated.  From  the  lime  lie  went  out  of  Congress  until  his 
death  he  devoted  him.self  to  literar\-  work,  i)rei)arin<^  a  very 
valuable  publication  known  as  "  Thirty  Years  in  Congress," 
which  covered  the  period  from  1820  to  1850.  He  presented 
in  this  work  a  connected  narrative  of  the  time  from  Adams 
to  Pierce,  and  dealt  largely  with  the  .secret  political  hi.story 
of  that  period.  He  then  undertook  the  task  of  abridging  the 
debates  of  Congre.ss  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government. 
This  work  he  was  just  com])leting  when  death  came  to  him. 
It  has  since  been  published,  and  is  a  very  valuable  compilation 
of  about  fifteen  volumes. 

While  Colonel  Benton  was  a  man  of  exalted  ])atriotism,  he 
was  a  man  of  great  pas.sion  as  well.  Indeed,  his  animosities 
showed  him  unrelenting,  though  later  in  life  he  became  for- 
giving. Mr.  Webster  is  reported  in  Harve>'s  Reminiscences 
and  Anecdotes  to  have  said  that  Colonel  Benton  and  he  never 
.spoke  to  each  other  for  several  3^ears,  but  that  he  came  to  him 
one  da\-  and  told  him,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  of  being  on  board 
the  Princeton  in  the  ver)'  best  po.sition  to  .see  the  experiment 
of  discharging  her  guns. 

Some  one  in  the  midst  of  the  great  throng  touched  him  and 
caused  him  to  move  his  position.  Shortly  after  the  explosion 
came,  and  the  man  was  killed  who  stood  where  he  had. 
Colonel  Benton  said  that  it  .seemed  to  him  that  the  touch  was 
the  hand  of  the  Almight\-  stretched  down  to  draw  him  away 
from  the  place  of  instantaneous  death.  This  circumstance 
changed  the  whole  current  of  his  life.  He  was  now  a  different 
man  and  wanted  to  be  at  .peace  with  everyone,  and  for  that 
purpose  he  visited  Webster.  He  .said,  "Let  us  bur\-  the 
S.  Doc.  456 5 


66         Address  of  Mr.  IJovd  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

hatchet."  Webster  accepted  the  offer,  and  they  were  ever 
afterwards  the  best  of  friends. 

Mr.  Webster  relates  another  incident,  which  is  fcmnd  in  the 
same  book,  pecuharly  interesting  and  illustrative  of  Colonel 
Benton's  relenting  spirit.  John  Wilson,  of  St.  Louis,  came 
to  see  Mr.  Webster  on  a  matter  of  business  at  his  home  in 
Washington.  Mr.  Wilson  was  a  lawyer  of  extensive  practice 
and  of  good  talent,  a  man  of  violent  prejudices  and  temper, 
who  was  ever  in  open  opposition  to  the  course  of  Colonel 
Benton.  It  was  notorious  in  St.  Louis  that  when  Colonel 
Benton  went  on  the  stump  John  Wilson  would  be  there  to 
meet  him  and  to  abuse  him  in  the  strongest  terms;  Mr.  Benton 
would  return  the  fire. 

Mr.  Webster  had  not  seen  Mr.  Wilson  for  manj-  years,  but 
he  came  to  him  now  prematurely  old,  with  fortiuie  wrecked, 
and  told  him  of  his  desire  to  emigrate  to  California  for  his 
family's  sake.  As  far  as  he  was  concerned,  poverty  mattered 
not,  but  on  account  of  those  dear  to  him  he  wished  to  try  and 
mend  his  fortunes.  He  therefore  desired  a  letter  to  some  one 
in  California  which  would  say  that  Webster  knew  him  to  be  a 
respectable  person  worthy  of  confidence.  Webster  said  he 
knew  no  one  in  California. 

Mr.  Wilson  insi.sted  that  this  would  make  no  difference,  as 
everybody  would  know  him  and  that  therefore  a  ;,ertificate 
from  him  would  be  the  most  valuable  testimonial  he  could 
have.  Webster  said  he  would  write  one  with  pleasure,  but 
suggested  that  Colonel  Benton,  who  almost  owns  California, 
could  give  a  letter  to  Fremont  and  others  that  would  l)e  of 
great  benefit  to  him.  Wilson  looked  at  Web.ster  in  astonish- 
ment and  said  he  would  not  .speak  to  Benton,  "No,  not  if  it 
were  to  save  the  life  of  every  member  of  my  family;  "   that  the 


Stn/iies  of  TJio)nas  //.  Ih')ifi))i  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     67 

thought  of  it  made  him  shudder;  that  he  felt  indignant  at  its 

mention,  since  Webster  knew  that  they  were  unfriendly.      Mr. 

Webster  replied  that  he  understood  the  situation,  and,  turning 

to  his  desk,  wrote  the  following  note  to  Mr.  Bi.;nT(>.\: 

Dk.\r  Sir:  I  am  well  aware  of  the  disputes,  personal  and  political, 
which  have  taken  place  between  yourself  and  the  bearer  of  this  note, 
Mr.  John  Wilson.  But  he  is  now  old,  and  is  going  to  California  and 
needs  a  letter  of  reconnnendation.  You  know  everybody,  and  a  letter 
from  you  would  do  him  good.  I  have  assured  Mr.  Wilson  that  it  would 
give  >(ai  more  pleasure  to  forget  what  has  passed  between  you  and  him 
and  to  give  him  a  letter  that  will  do  him  good  than  it  will  him  to  receive 
it.     I  am  going  to  persuade  him  to  carry  you  this  note. 

Webster  then  read  the  note  to  Wilson,  who  promptly  refused 
to  carry  it.  After  long  and  determined  persistence  on  Webster's 
part,  Wilson  .softened  down  and  agreed  to  leave  the  letter  at  the 
door.  He  told  Webster  afterwards  that  he  took  the  note  and 
delivered  it,  with  his  card,  to  Benton's  servant  at  the  door, 
and  rushed  to  his  apartments.  To  his  great  astonishment,  in 
a  very  few  moments  a  note  arri\'ed  from  Colonel  Benton 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  card  and  note,  and  stating 
that  Mrs.  Benton  and  he  would  ha\-e  nuich  pleasure  in  receiv- 
ing Mr.  Wilson  at  breakfast  at  9  o'clock  next  morning.  They 
would  wait  breakfa.st  for  him  and  no  answer  was  expected. 
Wilson  told  Webster  afterwards  that  it  so  worried  him  that 
he  lay  awake  that  night  thinking  of  it,  and  in  the  morning 
felt  as  a  man  with  a  sentence  of  death  pa.ssed  upon  him,  who 
had  been  called  h\  the  turnkey  to  his  last  breakfast. 

Making  his  toilet,  with  great  hesitation  he  went  to  Colonel 
Benton's  house.  He  rang  the  doorbell,  but  in.stead  of  the 
servant  the  Colonel  himself  came  to  the  door.  Taking  Wil- 
son cordially  by  both  hands,  he  said:  "Wilson,  I  am  delighted 
to  see  you;  this  is  the  happiest  meeting  I  have  had  for  twenty 
years.     Webster  has  done  the  kindest  thing  he  ever  did  in  his 


68         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  tJir  Accept  a  )ice  of  the 

life."  Proceedinjjj  at  once  to  the  dining  room,  lie  was  pre- 
sented to  Mrs.  Betiton,  and  after  a  few  kind  words,  Bf;ntox 
remarked:  "Yon  and  I,  Wilson,  have  l)een  c^narreling  on  the 
stump  for  twenty-five  years.  We  ha\-e  been  calling  each 
other  hard  names,  but  really  with  no  want  of  mutual  respect 
and  confidence.  It  has  been  a  fooli.sh  political  fight,  and  let's 
wipe  it  out  of  mind.  Everything  that  I  have  said  about  you 
I  ask  pardon  for."  Wilson  .said  they  both  cried,  he  asked 
Benton's  pardon,  and  they  were  good  friends.  Colonel  Bex- 
ton  had  meantime  prepared  a  number  of  letters  to  persons 
whom  he  knew  in  California,  in  which  he  conunanded  them  to 
show   Mr.   Wilson  every  favor  within  their  power. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  refer  to  acts  which  the  friends  of 
Colonel  Benton  would  blot  from  memory,  nor  to  deeds  which 
could  bring  the  tinge  of  remor.se.  I  would  cover  his  imper- 
fections with  the  mantle  of  charity,  but  would  imprint  in 
burning  letters,  if  I  could,  his  patriotism,  energy,  indu.stry, 
honesty,  and  devotion  to  the  right  as  qualities  worthy  of 
enuilation.  Nor  would  \\\y  remarks  be  complete  did  I  not 
refer  to  that  greatest  of  his  virtues,  which  showed  itself  in 
the  devotion  and  affection  he  exhibited  toward  his  famil>-. 

In  1844  his  wife  suffered  a  stroke  of  paral>sis,  from  which 
she  never  fully  recovered.  From  that  time  Colonel  BicxTox 
was  never  known  to  go  to  any  place  of  festivity  or  anm.se- 
ment,  but  devoted  his  lei.stire  hours  to  trying  to  make  com- 
fortable, pleasant,  and  happy  the  loved  one  so  sorely  afflicted. 
No  man,  it  is  said,  ever  regarded  his  family  with  more  tender 
solicitude  than  did  he.  In  this  are  e\-inced,  perhai)S,  the  true 
cjualities  of  the  man  as  nuich  as  in  auNthing  occurring  in  the 
days  of  his  eventful  history.  Mrs.  Benton,  in  the  language 
of  another,  "was  the  pride  and  glory  of  his  young  ambition, 
tlie  sweet  ornament   of  liis  matmL-   fame,  and   the  l)est   love  of 


S/n/urs  of  TJionias  ff.  Ben  ton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      69 

his  ripened  age."     These  are  the  coinpletiug  (luahties  whicli 
enable  us  to  know  him  who  was — 

I.ollv  and   sour  to  Uu'in   lluit  lovt-d   liim   not, 

Hut  lo  those  iiK'ii   that  soui^ht  him  swL-ut  as  suiinner. 

Colonel  BexTox  died  April  10,  1S5S.  leaving  as  his  last 
audible  words  "T  am  comfortal)le  and  c.mtent."  On  the  day 
of  his  burial  all  l)usiness  in  St.  Louis  was  su.spended,  every 
court  adjourned,  and  it  is  .said  that  40.000  people  were  present 
and  sought  to  \r\\  their  last  tribute  of  respect.  Before  the 
adjournment  of  the  United  vStates  circuit  court  for  the  district 
of  Missouri  on  that  day,  at  the  announcement  of  the  Inirial  of 
Colonel  Benton,  Judge  Wells,   of  that  court,   said: 

I  have  heard  with  great  sensibility  of  the  death  of  Colonel  Benton,  one 
of  the  oldest  members  of  this  bar.  He  was  a  man  who  devoted  nearly  all 
his  life  to  the  service  of  this  State.  Colonel  Bknton  and  my.self  became 
acquainted  about  forty  years  ago,  and  through  all  that  time  there  was  an 
undeviating  friend.ship  between  us.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  .suppose  that 
a  difference  of  opinion  would  di.sturb  the  friend.ship  entered  into  by  Colonel 
Benton.  It  was  only  when  he  supposed  that  he  received  a  personal  affront, 
or  that  such  was  intended,  that  he  ever  deviated  from  it. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  talents,  great  energy,  and  indomitable  will.  He 
devoted  all  those  great  qualities  not  to  his  own  interest,  but  to  the  interest 
of  the  Union  and  to  this  State.  I  have  it  from  the  highest  authority  that, 
to  remain  in  this  State  and  to  devote  his  services  to  her  interests,  he  refused 
the  highest  gifts  in  the  power  of  the  United  States  Government  to  bestow. 
He  refused  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States;  he  refused  being 
put  in  nomination  for  Vice-Pre.sident  and  other  high  offices,  all  through  a 
desire  to  serve  this  State.  As  a  father,  as  a  husband,  and  in  all  the  domes- 
tic relations,  he  was  a  model.  This  I  know  personally,  as  I  was  intimate 
in  his  family  for  several  nionths.  His  private  and  domestic  ties  were  only 
second  to  his  public  duties.  He  was  devoted  to  the  prosperity  of  this  State 
and  to  the  glory  and  perpetuity  of  our  Union. 

The  following  eloquent  tribute  to  Colonel  Benton  is  taken 

from   the  issue  of  one  of  the  St.    Louis  papers  on  the  day  of 

the  interment : 

Greatness  is  ended, 
An  unsubstantial  pageant  all; 
Droop  o'er  the  scene  the  funeral  pall. 

Weave  the  cypress  for  the  bier  of  the  departed;  gather  the  burial  cor- 
tege   to   lay   his    body    within  its  final  liome;    summon  fitting  words  of 


70         Address  of  Mr.  Lloyd  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

eulogy  to  voice  the  sorrow  of  those  who  knew  him  in  life  and  mourn 
him  in  death. 

For  this  day,  amid  the  drooping  of  banners,  the  low  wail  of  martial 
nuisic,  and  the  multitudinous  concourse  of  our  citizens  the  solemn  words 
"dust  to  dust,  and  ashes  to  ashes"  will  be  spoken  over  the  remains  of 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  a  statesman  without  peer,  a  patriot  without  price. 
Let  us  deal  gently  with  his  errors,  remember  his  labor,  and  embalm  his 
virtues.  In  his  public  services  and  in  his  private  attachments,  in  his 
arduous  labor  and  in  his  majestic  death,  he  had  earned  an  abiding 
place  in  the  memory  of  the  American  people,  whilst  his  name  will  be 
emblazoned  more  in  the  future  than  in  the  present  as  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  those  who  gave  so  much  of  renown  to  the  deliberations  of 
our  National  Council. 

Missouri  is  proud  of  her  honored  dead.  She  rejoices  in  the 
achievements  of  her  .sons.  Many  of  her  naaies  are  written 
high  on  the  mount  of  fame.  These  two  are  not  alone  the 
object  of  her  admiration.  In  statesmanship  many  others  are 
registered  near  the  top  of  the  scroll  of  honor;  in  legal  attain- 
ment she  ranks  well  in  the  sisterhood  of  States;  in  educational 
advantages  she  is  seldom  surpassed,  and  in  natural  resources  is 
without  a  peer. 

Aside  from  the.se  advantages,  the  chief  glory  of  the  Mis- 
sourian  is  in  the  honor  and  integrity  of  his  citi7.en.ship 
Charged  with  being  border  ruffian  by  those  who  do  not  unde 
stand  the  character  of  her  people,  with  being  outlaws  by  those 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  their  morality,  with  being  uncouth 
and  illiterate  by  those  who  have  not  learned  of  the  education 
and  refinement  of  her  sons  and  daughters,  she  stands  without 
a  superior  in  the  galaxy  of  States  in  the  rectitude  of  her 
intentions.  This  great  State  brings  to  you  to-day  all  that  she 
has  the  power  to  do  in  honoring  the  dead  and  humbly  asks 
that  the.se  chiseled  emblems,  representing  her  .sons,  shall  find 
suitable  place  in  that  apartment  fixed  by  law  for  that  purpose, 
that,  as  the  years  roll  on,  it  will  be  observed  that  she  is  not 


Sfnhies  ofT/ionias  //.  Boiton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     71 

forgetful  in  cherishing  the  memory  of  those  who  liave  wrought 
so  nobly  for  her  welfare. 

Mr.  Bland.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  a.sk  for  the  adoption  of  the  reso- 
lution. 

The  vSpeaker  pro  tempore  (Mr.  Connolly).  The  question  is 
on  agreeing  to  the  resolution  offered  by  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri  [Mr.  Bland]. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 


ACCI^ITANCE  OF  THE  STATUES  OF  THOMAS 
H.  BEXrON  AM)  FRANCIS  P.  BLAIR. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE. 


MAY  19,  1900. 

Mr.  CoCKRELL.  Mr.  President,  in  pursuance  of  the  notice 
heretofore  given,  I  present  a  letter  from  the  governor  of  the 
State  of  Missouri,  which  I  ask  may  be  read  by  the  Secretary. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  Secretary  will  read  as 
requested. 

The  Secretary  read  as  follows: 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  Washington ,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen  :  In  the  year  1895  the  general  assembly  of  the  State  of 
Missouri  passed  an  act  making  an  appropriation  to  have  statues  made 
of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  to  be  placed  in  Statuary 
Hall,  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  In  the  act  referred  to,  William  J. 
Stone,  Odin  Guitar,  Peter  L.  Foy,  B.  B.  Cahoon,  O.  H.  S,  encer,  and  James 
H.  Birch  were  constituted  a  commission  to  have  the  statues  made  and 
properly  placed.  I  am  now  informed  by  the  commissioners  that  the  stat- 
ues are  completed  and  ready  to  be  presented  to  Congress. 

I  have  the  honor,  therefore,  as  governor  of  Missouri,  to  present  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  through  the  Congress,  the  statues  of 
the  distinguished  statesmen  named,  and  to  ask  that  they  may  be  assigned 
a  place  in  the  hall  dedicated  to  such  uses  at  the  Capitol. 
Verv  respectfullv, 

LOX  \'.  STEPHENS,  Governor. 

Mr.  CoCKRELL.  I  ask  that  the  concurrent  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  may  be  laid  before  the  Senate. 

73 


74  Proceedings  in  the  Senate. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  Chair  lays  before  the 
Senate  a  concurrent  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which  will  be  read. 

The  Secretary  read  as  follows: 

In  the  Hol-se  of  Representatives. 

February  4,  iSgg. 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  {the  Senate  concurring).  That 
the  thanks  of  Congress  be  presented  to  the  State  of  Missouri  for  providing 
and  furnishing  statues  of  Thomas  Hart  Benton,  a  deceased  person,  who 
has  been  a  citizen  thereof  and  illustrious  for  his  historic  renown  and  for 
distinguished  civic  services,  and  of  Francis  Preston  Blair,  a  deceased 
person,  who  has  been  a  citizen  thereof  and  illustrious  for  his  historic 
renown  and  for  distinguished  civic  and  military  services. 

Resolved,  That  the  statues  be  accepted  and  placed  in  the  National  Stat- 
uary Hall  in  the  Capitol,  and  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  duh^  authen- 
ticated be  transmitted  to  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri. 


S/a/i/rs  of  Tlio))ias  II.  Bi')ilo)i  and  Fra}icis  P.  Blair.     75 

Address  of  Mr,  Vest,  of  Missouri. 

THOMAS    H.    BENTON, 

Mr.  President,  nothing  could  more  clearly  show  how  rapidh' 
the  bitter  memories  of  the  civil  war  are  passing  away  than  the 
fact  that  Missouri  sends  to  the  National  Capitol  the  statues 
of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr. 

The  first  great  conflict  over  African  slavery  in  the  llnited 
States  occurred  when  Mis.souri  was  admitted  into  the  Union 
as  a  slave  State,  accompanied  by  the  enactment  of  what  was 
known  as  the  Missouri  compromise,  which  provided  that  north 
of  36°  30'  latitude  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  except  as 
a  punishment  for  crime,  should  never  exist.  The  next  contest 
over  slavery  came  with  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- Nebraska 
bill  in  1854,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  the 
birth  of  the  Republican  party  upon  the  distinct  issue  of  free 
soil  and  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery. 

This  was  followed  by  that  terril^le  border  .war  upon  the 
frontiers  of  Missouri  and  Kan.sas,  which  depopulated  whole 
counties,  destroyed  towns  and  villages,  and  reddei>ed  the  mid- 
night sky  with  the  lurid  glare  of  burning  homes.  Old  John 
Brown  declared  upon  the  scaffold  at  Charlestown,  \V.  \'a., 
that  he  had  invaded  Missouri  three  years  before  he  attacked 
Virginia,  and  had  carried  off  seven  slaves  from  Bates  County 
to  Canada  without  firing  a  gun.  Literally  he  fired  no  guns, 
but  he  murdered  in  cold  blood,  with  knives,  one  of  the  best 
men  in  Piates  County,  who  attempted  to  prevent  forcibly  the 
outrage  on  his  property. 

No  vState  in  the  Union  suffered  more  from  internecine  strife 
and   neighborhood   war   than    Mi.ssouri.      The  wounds   inflicted 


76  Address  of  Mr.  I  'est  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

were  deep  and  cruel,  no  man  being  willing  to  prophesy  when 
their  memory  would  pass  away.  But  to-day  Missouri  sends  to 
the  National  Capitol  and  to  Statuary  Hall  the  marble  images  of 
two  men  whose  whole  public  lives  were  given  to  the  cause  of 
free  soil  and  against  the  further  extension  of  African  slavery. 

Immediately  after  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  even  before  it 
had  closed,  emigrants  commenced  passing  over  the  Appalachian 
Range  into  the  gloomy  forests  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to 
contest  supremacy  over  the  soil  with  the  Indians  and  wild 
beasts.  This  emigration  was  composed  largely  of  Scotch-Irish 
blood,  that  most  remarkable  of  all  the  races  which  have  existed 
upon  this  continent,  independent,  self-willed,  impatient  of  re- 
straint, yet  not  given  to  disorder;  every  man  a  soldier  and  his 
own  leader;  e\-ery  woman  fit  to  be  the  mother  of  heroes.  This 
Scotch-Irish  blood  has  given  to  the  Western  States,  into  which 
they  went,  blazing  the  paths  of  civilization  with  the  ax  in  one 
hand  and  the  rifle  in  the  other,  men  who  have  impressed  them- 
selves in  war  and  peace  upon  these  great  communities. 

Nearly  all  the  leading  families  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri  came  from  this  Scotch- Irish  lineage,  which  possessed 
so  much  of  individual  and  racial  antipathies;  always  deter- 
mined in  their  own  opinions,  and  with  .strong  passions  and 
high  prejudices,  but  at  the  .same  time  deeply  religious,  their 
religion  being  militant,  like  that  of  the  old  Jews,  who  for  fort}' 
years  went  through  the  wilderne.ss  praying  by  night  and  fight- 
ing b}-  day,  but  always  carrying  with  them  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant.  This  vScotch- Irish  l)loc)d  has  given  to  these  Western 
States  men  who  molded  their  institutions  and  impre.s.sed  them- 
selves indelibly  upon  their  destiny — the  Jacksons,  Hardins, 
Clarks,  McCullochs,  McClernands,  McKees,  Estills,  and  Gen- 
trys.  Both  their  ancestors  and  their  descendants  have  been 
leaders  in  every  community  where  they  became  citizens. 


Statues  of  Thomas  //.  /'cii/oji  oik/  l-^raiicis  I\  lUair.      77 

Willi  this  remarkable  pioneer  migration  across  the  Appa- 
lachian Range  of  Scotch-Irish  lineage  there  went  also  a  small 
contingent  of  Virginians,  another  most  remarkable  race.  They 
were  the  cavaliers  of  ICngland,  who,  after  they  lost  the  cause 
of  the  Stuarts,  and  before  the  restoration  of  Charles  II,. came 
from  England  to  \'irginia.  They  were  the  men  who  charged 
with  Prince  Rupert  against  the  ironsides  of  Cronuvell  and 
knew  no  fear.  Among  these  families,  descendants  of  whom 
can  be  found  to-da}-  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and  in  the  two 
Carolinas,  Tennessee,  Kentuck>-,  and  Missouri,  were  the  Lees, 
known  in  England  as  the  I.,oyal  Lees,  who  gave  to  \'irginia 
Light-Horse  Harry  in  the  Revolution,  William  Henry  Lee  in 
the  councils  of  Congress,  and  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  ])eerless 
leader  of  his  countrymen  in  our  civil  war.  Side  by  side  with 
the  Lees  who  charged  under  Prince  Rupert  were  the  Bentons. 
Thomas  H.  Benton  was  descended  from  this  famih-,  and 
passed  across  the  Appalachian  Range  from  Xorth  Carolina, 
where  his  father  had  settled,  to  cast  his  destinies  with  the 
frontiersmen  of  Tennessee. 

Benton's  father,  unlike  the  fathers  of  the  Scotch- Irish 
innnigrants,  was  not  an  extremely  ])oor  man.  The  Benton 
family  was  entirely  different  in  its  circumstances  from  that  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  Jackson's  mother  was  a  widow  in  \-er\- 
indigent  circumstances,  unal)le  at  times  to  procure  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  and  one  of  the  most  pathetic  pictures  of  all  our 
early  history  is  that  of  Jackson's  mother  walking  more  than 
40  miles  to  see  her  two  boys,  pri.soners  to  the  British,  begging 
her  way  as  she  went,  without  even  an  animal  to  ride.  Ben- 
ton's father  was  a  lawyer  in  good  practice,  and  he  gave  his 
son  a  collegiate  education  at  Chapel  Hill,  in  North  Carolina. 
I  lis  mother  was  a  Virginian.  His  father  came  directly  from 
Ivnglish  lineage  and  his  mother  indirectl\-  througli  one  of  the 


78  Address  of  Mr.  l^est  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

splendid  families  of  old  Virginia,  that  turnished  warriors  and 
statesmen,  the  State  which  is  known  as  the  mother  of  States 
and  statesmen.  These  people  are  described  by  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  now  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  his  Life 
of  Thomas  H.  Benton — one  of  the  American  series — in  a  few 
lines,  and  I  ask  the  Secretary  to  read  them. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  Secretary  will  read  as 
requested. 

The  Secretary  read  as  follows: 

The  world  has  never  seen  better  soldiers  than  those  who  followed 
Lee,  and  their  leader  will  undoubtedly  rank  as  without  any  exception 
the  very  greatest  of  all  the  great  captains  that  the  English-speaking 
peoples  have  brought  forth;  and  this,  although  the  last  and  chief  of  his 
antagonists,  may  himself  claim  to  stand  as  the  full  equal  of  Marlborough 
and  Wellington. 

Mr.  \'est.  Mr.  President,  I  make  no  apology  for  having  this 
quotation  read,  because  it  is  worthy  of  this  era  of  fraternization 
and  of  the  gallant  soldier  who  penned  those  lines.  No  man 
knows  better  the  descendants  of  the  old  Virginians  and  the 
Scotch- Irish,  the  people  of  the  great  Commonwealths  of  the 
West,  than  Theodore  Roosevelt.  He  led  them  up  that  historic 
hill  at  Santiago  when  closed  the  Cuban  war,  and  he  knows  that 
the  Rough  Riders  whom  he  led  were  the  legitimate  descendants 
of  those  ancestors  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  having  simply  laid 
aside  the  ax  and  rifle  for  the  pistol  and  lariat  of  the  plains. 

Colonel  Bentox,  as  I  have  stated,  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  his  father,  dying  in  middle  age,  left  to  the  family  a 
large  tract  of  land  near  Nashville,  Tenn.,  to  which  the  widow 
removed,  ThomAvS  H.  Benton  being  the  .second  .son.  Young 
Benton  grew  up  on  this  tract  of  land,  on  wliich  is  located  the 
town  bearing  the  family  name  of  Benton,  and  his  life  was  like 
that  of  the  average  young  frontiersman.  He  indulged  in  all 
the  rough  and  exciting  anniscments  and   pursuits  of  tliat  early 


Statues  of  T/ioiuas  //.  Boiton  and  Fnnicis  /'.  lilair.      79 

era.  He  fought  chickens  and  fought  the  Indians.  He  ran 
horses  and  ran  for  the  legislature.  He  indtdged  in  street 
brawls  and  affrays,  not  entirely  creditable,  in  one  of  which 
Andrew  Jackson  was  his  opponent,  Ijoth  being  badly  wounded. 
No  prophet  could  then  foresee  that  in  after  years  Bkntox,  as 
Senator  from  Missouri,  would  become  the  great  ally  of  Jackson 
as  President  of  the  United  vStates. 

Benton  served  two  years  in  the  Tennessee  legislature,  intro- 
ducing a  bill  to  divide  the  State  into  judicial  districts,  which 
became  a  law,  and  also  a  l)ill,  enacted  into  law,  giving  to  negro 
slaves  who  were  charged  with  criminal  offenses  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury.  This  latter  measure  of  legislation  shows  that 
Colonel  Benton  did  not  belong  to  that  extreme  Southern  class 
who  thought  that  negroes  were  mere  chattels,  to  be  bought 
and  sold,  and  not  human  beings.  Benton,  although  a  slave- 
holder, was  never  an  advocate  of  the  institution  of  slavery. 
He  resented  deeply  the  idea  of  interference  from  other  States 
whose  people  had  owned  slaves  and  then  from  self-interest  had 
done  away  with  the  institution;  but  he  did  not  beheve  that 
slavery  should  be  extended  or  that  it  was  beneficial  either  to 
the  slave  or  the  slave  owner. 

He  was  one  of  that  class  of  national  statesmen  at  the  head 
of  whom  was  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  to  which  belonged  Henry 
Clay,  Houston,  Davy  Crockett,  and  Chief  Justice  Taney,  who 
delivered  the  celebrated  Dred  Scott  decision.  In  all  his  life 
Benton  never  hesitated  to  express  his  opinion  in  regard  to  the 
institution  of  slavery  as  an  economic  institution,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  resented  deeply  any  intimation  that  the  Southern 
people  were  entirely  responsible  for  its  existence. 

Just  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  18 12  Benton  removed  to 
the  Territory  of  Missouri  and  settled  in  the  old  French  village 
of  St.  Genevieve,  35  miles  l)elow  St.  Louis,  on  the  Mis.si.ssippi 


8o  .hMrrss  o/'.l/r.  !?s/  on  the  Acceplaiicc  of  the 

River.  Not  long  since  I  saw  the  law  office,  built  of  cypress 
logs,  in  which  he  practiced  his  profession  and  from  which  you 
could  look  out  across  the  broad  expanse  of  the  Father  of 
Rivers.  He  remained  it  St.  Genevieve  onl>-  a  few  >"ears.  The 
place  was  too  small  for  his  aggressive  spirit,  and  he  removed  to 
St.  Louis,  then  giving  promise  of  becoming  the  great  empress 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Here  he  almost  immediately  l)ecame  actively  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  and  political  life.  He  was  unfortunately 
involved  in  a  quarrel  soon  after  he  became  a  citizen  of  vSt. 
Louis  with  young  Lucas,  a  promising  member  of  the  bar  and 
a  .son  of  Judge  Lucas,  who  was  the  wealthiest  and  most  influen- 
tial Whig  in  the  Mi.ssouri  Territory.  I  do  not  care  to  .speak  at 
length  about  personal  matters,  but  it  would  not  be  perhaps 
improper  to  make  a  statement  in  regard  to  the  tragic  event 
which  cast  a  shadow  over  Colonel  Benton's  subsequent  life 
and  was  the  constant  source  of  attack  in  all  his  political  career. 

Benton,  as  I  have  said,  came  from  that  old  ^'irginia  .stock 
that  was  extremely  sensitive  as  to  personal  honor.  No  man 
living  ev^er  attacked  Colonel  Benton  personally  in  regard  to 
his  integrity  without  being  called  to  account.  The  la/.zaroni 
of  politics  who  indulge  in  declamation  and  general  statement 
fled  before  him,  and  the  man  who  remained  to  make  the  charge 
was  com])elled  .sooner  or  later  to  meet  him  face  to  face.  I  never 
agreed  with  him  politically,  but  standing  here  to-day  I  simply 
state  what  I  know  to  l)e  true — that,  .so  far  as  the  world  could 
observe,  he  never  knew  the  .sen.sation  of  fear,  either  in  ]niblic  or 
private  life. 

At  the  first  election  after  Benton  went  to  St.  Louis  and 
offered  to  vote,  young  Lucas  challenged  his  \-olr.  He  cluil- 
lenged  it  after  Benton  had  .sworn  that  he  was  a  bona  fide- 
citizen  of  the  citN-  of  St.  Louis  ruid  had  come   there   to   remain. 


Sfnhtcs  of  TlioDias  IF.  Bottoii  aiuf  I-yajicis  P.  JUair.     8i 

Bentox  considered  this  as  a  charge  of  perjury,  aud  he  declared, 
the  only  time  I  ever  heard  that  he  mentioned  the  event  after- 
wards, that  it  would  only  l)e  removed  by  an  abject  and  full 
apology  or  by  l)lood.  He  promptly  challenged  Lucas.  They 
fought  upon  Bloody  Island,  just  below  the  city  of  vSt.  Louis,  in 
the  Mississippi  River.  Lucas  was  almost  mortall\-  wounded. 
Bextox  waited  until  he  was  convalescent  and  challenged  him 
again.  In  the  second  encounter  Lucas  was  killed.  Colonel 
Bentox  never  admitted  that  in  the  absence  of  a  full  apology, 
after  what  Lucas  had  done,  he  could  retain  his  self-respect  or 
deserve  that  of  others  until  he  killed  the  man  who  had  attacked 
his  honor. 

Mr.  President,  all  this  sounds  to  us  now  as  semibarbarous, 
and  yet  if  we  carry  ourselves  back  to  the  age  in  which  this 
event  occurred  and  place  ourselves  in  the  position  public  men 
then  held  it  will,  I  think,  charitably  be  admitted  that,  enter- 
taining the  opinion  he  did  and  in  the  connnunity  he  lived. 
Bentox  could  hardly  have  done  anything  else.  Dueling  was 
then  an  institution.  No  man  could  remain  in  public  or  social 
life  without  ostracism  who  refused  what  they  called  a  chal- 
lenge to  the  field  of  honor.  All  the  distinguished  men  of 
the  United  vStates  fought  duels.  When  Randolph  and  Clay 
fought,  in  sight  of  this  Capitol,  members  of  the  Cabinet  and 
members  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  among 
whom  was  Colonel  Bextox,  were  present  as  spectators. 
Jackson  had  killed  his  adversary  in  a  duel.  Houston  had 
fought  a  duel  and  wounded  his  opponent  severely.  Davy 
Crockett  acknowledged  the  obligations  of  the  duello  and 
participated  in  it,  and  it  was  not  until  Hamilton  fell  before 
the  deadly  pistol  of  Aaron  Burr  that  even  the  people  of  the 
conservative.  God-fearing  North  came  to  a  full  realization  of  the 
terrible  nature  of  this  institution. 
S.  Doc.  456 6 


82  Acf(h'c\ss  of  Mr.  I  'est  on  t)ie  Acceptance  of  the 

Colonel  Benton  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate 
from  the  new  State  of  Missouri,  the  second  United  States 
Senator,  David  Barton  being  the  first.  The  Oregon  question 
was  then  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  people  throughout  our  countrj'  were  preparing  for  war 
with  Great  Britain.  England  and '  the  United  States  had 
been  national  tenants  in  common  of  that  vast  expanse  of 
country  now  comprising  a  large  proportion  of  the  Vancouver 
district  of  British  America  and  the  great  States  of  Oregon 
and  Washington.  The  rival  interests  of  the  fur  companies, 
the  Hudson  Ba}'  Company,  in  England,  and  the  North  Amer- 
ican Fur  Company,  under  Astor,  in  the  United  States,  soon 
brought  about  even  armed  conflict,  and  it  became  absoluteh^ 
necessary  to  settle  the  boundary  line  between  the  possessions 
of  the  two  countries.  Colonel  Benton  when  he  entered 
Congress  threw  himself  with  his  usual  aggressiveness  into 
the  middle  of  the  fight.  He  declared  that  the  United  States 
must  hold  every  inch  of  the  disputed  territory,  and  that  with 
10,000  Missourians  he  could  settle  the  question  in  sixty  days. 
Benton  believed  in  what  was  called  manifest  destiny,  which 
meant  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  had  a  right  to 
take  all  the  territory  that  adjoined  them,  if  they  thought 
proper  to  do  so. 

In  his  first  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  upon  the  Oregon 
question,  which  was  addressed  to  this  body  in  his  ore  rotundo 
style  and  with  great  effusion  of  classical  reference,  he  stated 
that  the  United  vStates  must  take  this  territory  without  compro- 
mise, without  que-stion,  and  that  it  would  soon  be  peopled  1)y 
millions  of  Orientals — Chinese  and  Japanese — who  would  come 
to  our  shores,  adopt  our  institutions,  law,  and  religion,  and 
become  our  best  citizens.  If  Colonel  Benton  could  have  lived 
l)Ut  a  few  years  more,  he   would    have    seen    those    Orientals 


Slaiiu's  of  Tho))ias  If.  Ih'iihui  and  /•'ra/nis  /'.  Il/air.      83 

whom  he  hospit:il)ly  invilcd  to  our  sliorcs  fleeing  at  night, 
shot  down  b)'  brutal  mobs  in  tlie  hghl  of  their  burning  homes. 
Colonel  Bkxton  overlooked,  great  man  as  he  was,  the  racial 
antagonism  which  is  above  all  human  law. 

The  Oregon  question  pa.s.sed  awa\-  without  armed  conflict, 
but  leaving  unpleasant  reminiscences  in  regard  to  the  negotia- 
tions between  the  two  countries,  an.d  Bkxtox  then  addressed 
himself  to  the  material  interests  of  the  great  West,  whose 
representative  he  peculiarly  was.  He  advocated  with  great 
power  cutting  down  the  inmiense  Indian  reser\'ations,  so  that 
instead  of  being  under  the  control  of  the  savages  they  might 
become  the  happy  homes  of  industrious  whites.  He  abo\'e  all 
other  men  was  entitled  to  the  credit  for  the  establishment  of 
our  land  system,  the  homestead  and  preemption  laws,  and  the 
sales  of  our  other  lands  at  $1.25  an  acre  to  actual  settlers.  He 
opposed  vigorously  that  inic^uitous  system  of  putting  up  the 
public  lands  to  the  highest  bidder,  which  unquestionably  placed 
them  all  eventually  in  the  hands  of  syndicates  and  speculators. 

He  passed  through  Congress  a  bill  making  the  old  Santa 
Fe  trail  a  national  highway,  to  be  defended  by  the  soldiers 
of  the  Federal  Government,  and  he  terminated  in  a  ver\-  few 
years  by  that  legislation  the  bloodshed  which  for  so  long  had 
occurred  on  the  trail  between  Independence,  Mo.,  and  Sante  Fe 
and  Albuquerque,  in  New  INIexico,  when  the  Sioux,  Apaches, 
Comanches,  and  Pawnees  attacked  every  caravan  unless  it  was 
too  strong  to  be  overpowered. 

In  1S2S  came  a  great  parliamentar>-  contest  in  which  BenTox 
bore  conspicuous  part.  Mr.  Calhoun  then  advanced  his  idea  of 
nullification  by  a  State  of  Federal  legislation  when  the  people 
of  that  State  believed  the  enactment  of  such  legi.slatiou  was 
absolutely  destructive  of  their  best  interests.  Slavery  was  not 
involved  in  that  contest.      It  was  a  question  of   tariff  taxation. 


84  Address  of  Mr.  Vest  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

Calhoun  art^ued  with  great  abihty  that  a  State  could  remain  in 
the  Union  and  yet  nullify  an  act  of  the  Federal  Congress  which 
even  the  vSupreme  Court  decided  to  be  constitutional. 

I  have  always  regarded  Mr.  Calhoun  as  one  of  the  greatest 
analytical  disputants  this  or  any  other  countr>^  has  ever  pro- 
duced. I  have  studied  his  works;  but  I  was  never  able  to 
appreciate  his  argument  in  favor  of  nullification.  Jackson,  who 
was  then  President,  looked  upon  it  as  absolute  treason,  and 
declared  that  if  Calhoun  undertook  to  carr}'  it  out  he  would 
hang  him  as  high  as  Haman.  Clay  and  Webster  stood  by  the 
side  of  Bentox  in  defending  the  position  taken  by  Jackson, 
and  although  there  was  a  compromise  without  armed  conflict 
between  South  Carolina  and  the  General  Government,  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  nullification  contest  of  1828  influenced  all 
the  subsequent  career  of  Colonel  Benton,  and  the  opinions  he 
then  formed  were  responsible  for  his  final  political  overthrow  in 
Missouri. 

Colonel  Benton,  above  all  men — I  will  not  say  above  all 
men,  but  certainh'  without  any  superior  in  the  regard  I  am 
about  to  mention  —  loved  the  Union.  It  colored  and  influenced 
all  his  life,  and  he  firmly  believed  that  Mr.  Calhoun  was  a 
traitor  and  had  then  inaugurated  or  attempted  to  inaugurate  a 
scheme  to  establish  a  Southern  confederacy  based  upon  the 
institution  of  African  slavery.  Notwithstanding  many  acrimo- 
nious debates,  he  renewed  his  friendship  with  Webster  and 
Clay,  but  never  forgave  Mr.  Calhoun.  I  heard  him  in  1856, 
when  a  candidate  for  governor  of  IMissouri,  declare  emphat- 
ically in  a  public  address  that  if  he  had  Ijeen  President  in  1828, 
instead  of  threatening  to  hang  Calhoun,  he  would  have  hanged 
him  on  the  eastern  exposure  of  the  Capitol,  and  appealed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  to  vindicate  his  action. 

A  few  years  after  the  nullification  .struggle  came  the  great 


Statues  of  TJionias  II.  luntoii  and  F)'a)icis  P.  lUair.      <S5 

conflict  over  the  old  United  States  Bank,  when  Jackson,  with 
his  usual  impetuosity  and  self-will,  took  the  institution  out 
of  the  hands  of  Nicholas  Biddle  and  reni()\-ed  the  deposits. 
Whether  he  had  a  right  to  do  that  or  not,  which  I  do  not  care 
now  to  discuss,  because  it  is  ancient  history,  Jackson  believed 
that  he  was  doing  his  duty,  and  the  people  of  the  United  .States 
by  a  large  majority  vindicated  his  action.  Clay,  Calhoun,  and 
Webster  attacked  the  Administration  on  account  of  the  removal 
of  the  bank  deposits,  and  Benton,  single-handed  and  alone, 
fought  that  great  triumvirate  day  after  day  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  until  the  resolution  of  censure  was  passed 
against  Jackson. 

Ordinary  men  would  then  have  given  up  the  conflict,  but  not 
so  with  Thomas  H.  Benton.  With  him  the  battle  had  just 
commenced.  After  a  short  pause  he  introduced  his  resolution 
to  expunge  the  resolution  of  censure  from  the  records  of  the 
Senate.  The  last  night  of  that  terrible  struggle,  the  mo.st 
remarkable  in  our  parliamentary  history,  and  which  took  place 
in  what  is  now  the  room  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  signalized 
by  many  dramatic  incidents.  Benton  said,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  believed,  that  he  was  to  be  assassinated  upon  that  night 
from  the  gallery,  and  he  stood  in  the  Chamber,  throwing  open 
his  coat  and  vest,  and  daring  the  bank  robbers  to  attack  him. 

Then,  as  now,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  had  no  pre- 
vious question,  and  the  matter  could  be  determined  only  l)y  a 
war  of  exhaustion  physically.  Benton  stocked  the  connnittee 
rooms  with  provisions  and  liquors  so  that  starvation  might  not 
weaken  his  forces.  And,  singularly  enough,  after  succeeding 
in  expunging  the  hated  resolution,  Benton  regarded  that  as 
the  great  triumph  of  his  life.  He  never  spoke  afterwards 
before  the  people  of  Missouri  without  declaring  that,  single- 
handed    and    alone,   BenTOX  put  this    ball    in    motion.      As  a 


86  Address  of  Mr.  ]'cst  o)i  the  Acceptance  of  the 

matter  of  practical  and  material  legislation  it  amounted  to 
nothing.  As  a  personal  triumph  Colonel  Bentox  regarded  it 
as  the  crowning  glory  of  his  long  and  able  public  career. 

Passing  over  intermediate  events,  I  come  now  to  the  crisis  in 
Bentox's  remarkable  public  life.  The  question  of  slavery 
had  remained  not  in  a  quiescent  attitude,  l)ut  not  the  foremost 
question  in  the  politics  of  the  day  until  after  the  Mexican  war, 
when  Texas  applied  for  admission  to  the  Union  in  1844-45  as  a 
slave  State.  Colonel  Bextox  opposed  the  admission  of  Texas, 
and  it  sounded  the  knell  of  his  fate  in  Missouri.  A  young, 
ambitious,  and  able  coterie  of  politicians  had  grown  up  in  Mis- 
souri while  Bextox  during  thirty  or  nearly  thirty  years  had 
labored  in  Washington.  His  manners  were  not  such  as  to 
make  him  popular.  He  was  aggressive  and  almost  insulting  to 
men  who  differed  with  him.  To  give  a  single  instance  of  his 
manner  of  meeting  the  people:  In  one  of  the  counties  of  my 
old  circuit  when  I  first  commenced  practicing  law  was  a  most 
excellent,  learned,  and  modest  man,  not  a  politician,  an  old 
Virginian  of  moderate  estate,  a  gentleman  of  culture,  and  a 
Democrat  bej^ond  question,  who  had  supported  Colonel  Bextox 
for  more  than  twenty-five  years.  He  saw  proper  to  express 
his  disapproval  of  Colonel  Bextox's  course  in  regard  to  the 
admission  of  Texas.  After  speaking  at  the  county  town,  and 
when  the  crowd  came  forward,  as  is  the  custom  to-da}-,  to 
shake  hands  with  an  eminent  speaker,  this  gentleman,  after 
the  press  of  the  crowd  had  disappeared,  advanced  and  in  old 
Virginia  style  extended  his  hand  and  saluted  Colonel  BkxTOX. 
In  the  presence  of  the  audience,  wIkj  had  not  yet  dispersed, 
Bextox  looked  at  him  from  head  to  foot  without  a  single 
evidence  of  recognition.  This  gentleman,  bowing,  .saitl:  "You 
possibly  have  forgotton  nie.  Colonel  Bextox;  I  am  Mr. 
. "      Drawing    himself    up    to    liis    full    heiglit,    BexTOX 


S/a/iics  of  ThoDias  II.  Hen  Ion  and  Francis  /'.  11  lair.      S7 

replied  in  tones  that  could  be  heard  in  cver\-  pan  of  the 
building,  "Sir,  Benton  once  knew  a  man  b\  that,  name,  but 
he  is  dcnd;  yes,  sir,  he  is  dead."  And  so  he  went  into  every 
count V  in  the  State,  denouncing  every  man  by  name  who  dared 
to  oppose  his  political  action. 

.\s  a  matter  of  course,  there  could  be  but  one  way  of  deter- 
mining an  issue  between  Colonel  Benton  and  those  who 
differed  with  him.  He  made  no  compromise;  he  asked  none. 
Every  citizen  must  either  agree  with  him  or  be  ranked  as  his 
personal  and  political  enemy.  It  was  his  nature,  and  he  could 
no  more  change  it  than  he  could  the  color  of  his  hair  and  e}-es. 

Colonel  Benton  was  assailed  by  his  enemies  because  he  had 
advocated  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State  and  then 
opposed  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  .slave  State.  His  reply 
was  imperfect  and  not  .satisfactory.  He  said  he  was  opposed 
to  the  extension  of  slavery ;  that  slavery  existed  in  the  Louisi- 
ana purchase  when  Jefferson  bought  it  from  France,  but  that 
.slavery  had  not  exi.sted  on  the  soil  of  Mexico,  and  therefore 
Texas  should  not  come  in  as  a  slave  State. 

Colonel  Benton  advocated  the  Missouri  compromise,  which 
accompanied  the  admission  of  Mi.s.souri  into  the  Union.  That 
compromise  directly  declared  that  slavery  should  not  exist 
north  of  36°  30',  but  if  it  meant  anything  it  .suggested  that 
a  State  south  of  36°  30'  could  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as 
a  .slave  State  if  the  people  so  desired.  Colonel  Benton  was 
accu.sed  by  his  enemies  of  Ijeing  .selfi.shly  prompted  when  Mis- 
.souri  was  admitted,  because  he  expected  to  be  a  United  States 
Senator.  It  had  its  weight  with  a  large  number  of  people  in 
Missouri,  but  for  my. self  I  never  believed  the  charge  to  be  true, 
Ijecause  of  all  the  public  men  I  have  ever  known  Thoma.S  H. 
Benton  con.sidered  less  than  any  other  the  political  effect  upon 
himself. 


88  Address  of  Mr.  I'est  on  the  Accepiajice  of  the 

He  opposed  the  admission  of  Texas,  as  I  believed  then  and 
beheve  now,  because  he  thought  it  was  a  part  of  Calhoun's 
scheme  to  dissolve  the  Union.  Never  after  the  nullification 
fight  of  1828  did  Benton  waver  in  his  opinion  that  there  was 
a  conspirac}^  to  break  up  the  Union  and  establish  a  Southern 
confederacy  upon  the  basis  of  slaver}-. 

No  man  who  ever  existed  in  the  public  life  of  this  country 
more  completely  and  apparently  committed  suicide  than 
Thomas  H.  Benton.  He  knew  as  well  or  better  than  any 
other  man  what  the  prejudice  and  opinions  of  the  people  of 
Missouri  were  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  their  sympathy 
with  their  brethren  from  the  vSouthern  States  that  had  gone 
to  Texas,  thrown  off  the  yoke,  and  established  an  independent 
State. 

But  more  than  this,  he  knew  there  was  not  a  family  in  west- 
ern Missouri  that  had  not  lost  father,  brother,  husband,  or  son 
upon  the  Santa  Fe  trail,  fighting  those  murderous  savages  who 
attacked  every  trapper  and  every  caravan  too  small  to  resist 
them,  and  that  the  people  of  Missouri  firmly  believed  that  the 
Mexicans  had  incited  the  Indians  to  make  these  attacks.  It 
was  well  known  that  the  merchants  of  Santa  Fe,  Albuquerque, 
and  Tamaulipas,  and  the  other  northern  Mexican  States  ob- 
jected to  the  trade  between  Missouri  and  New  Mexico.  It  was 
extremely  lucrative  to  the.se  Mexican  merchants  to  have  a 
monopol>-  of  the  sale  of  goods  to  their  own  people,  and  when- 
ever an\-  of  these  murderous  Indians  were  made  prisoners  by 
the  Missourians  there  were  always  found  amongst  them  Mexi- 
cans dressed  Hke  the  Indians,  appealing  to  their  passions  and 
prejudices  and  leading  them  on  to  these  terrible  outrages. 

Colonel  Benton,  knowing  all  these  things,  did  not  hesitate. 
The  legislature  of  Missouri  in  1848  pas.sed  resolutions  censuring 
his  course  on  the  Texas  question,  and  declaring  that   Missouri 


Sfa/iirs  (y/'T/ioiiias  If.   /in/ /on  (iinf  Francis  J\  h'/air.      S9 

would  share  the  fate  of  her  Southern  brethren.  The  challenge 
was  promptly  accepted.  Bknton  came  back  from  Washington, 
canvassed  the  vSlale  in  a  x-itriolic  canipai.un  such  as  has  never 
been  known.  If  any  man  amongst  his  opponents  had  a  weak 
place  in  his  armor,  Bkntox  found  it  out  and  assailed  him  by 
name.  That  he  lived  through  this  canvass  was  a  miracle,  for 
the  men  of  the  frontier  were  quick  to  avenge  an  insult  or  a 
wrong,  and  there  was  not  a  speech  made  by  him  in  which 
drawn  pistols  and  kni\-es  were  not  brandished  in  his  face.  His 
personal  fearlessness  saved  his  life,  for  if  there  was  one  quality 
more  prized  than  another  ii]X)n  the  frontier  it  was  insensil)ility 
to  personal  danger. 

"Benton  was  defeated  in  his  appeal  to  the  people  in  1849, 
and  Henry  S.  Geyer,  a  prominent  Whig  lawyer  of  St.  lyouis, 
was  elected  to  succeed  him  in  the  Senate  by  a  fusion  of  the 
Whigs  and  anti-Benton  Democrats. 

Colonel  Benton  came  back  to  Washington  and  commenced 
the  preparation  of  his  Thirty  Years'  \'iew,  the  most  valuable 
political  treatise  known  in  our  history. 

In  1852  he  was  elected  to  the  National  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  St.  Louis,  the  only  district  in  the  State  that 
had  a  Free  Soil  majority.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  was 
defeated  by  a  Knownothing  candidate,  and  again  went  liack 
to  his  literary  labor. 

In  1856,  when  there  were  three  candidates  for  the  Presidency, 
his  own  son-in-law  being  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party, 
Benton  declared  himself  for  Buchanan  and  liecame  an  inde- 
pendent Democratic  candidate  for  governor  of  Missouri.  He 
was  the  third  candidate  in  the  race.  Trusten  Polk,  the  regular 
Democratic  candidate,  was  elected  to  this  body,  and  Colonel 
Benton  returned  again  to  Washington  City  for  the  purpose  of 
finishing  his  Thirty  Years'  \'iew  and  commencing  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  digest  of  debates  of  Congress  from  the  beginning  of 


90  Address  of  Mr.   I  'est  on  the  jlcceptancc  of  the 

the  Government  down  to  that  time.  He  also  prepared  a  severe 
attack,  in  the  shape  of  a  pamphlet,  against  the  Supreme  Court 
for  its  decision  in  the  Dred  vScott  case. 

But  his  race  for  governor  in  1856  closed  his  political  career 
forever.  He  died  here  in  1858  and  was  buried  in  Bellefontaine 
Cemetery,  in  the  city  of  St.  I,ouis,  where  he  had  lived,  the 
funeral  being  attended  by  over  40,000  people  from  all  parts 
of  Missouri  and  the  adjacent  States. 

It  has  been  often  asked,  Mr.  President,  whether  Benton  was 
the  equal  of  his  three  contemporaries, 'Clay,  Webster,  and  Cal- 
houn. He  was  not  the  equal  of  Mr.  Clay  as  an  orator;  he  was 
not  the  equal  of  Mr.  Webster  as  a  lawyer;  he  was  not  the  equal 
of  ]\Ir.  Calhoun  as  a  close,  analytical  debater  and  disputant;  but 
he  was  the  superior  of  any  of  the  three  as  a  valuable,  all  around 
legislator.  His  industry  was  unparalleled,  his  honesty  above 
question,  his  courage,  moralh^  and  physically,  equal  to  that 
of  any  man  who  ever  lived  upon  this  earth. 

Benton  was  not  a  Southern  Democrat;  he  was  a  National 
Democrat.  He  appreciated  more  thoroughly  than  any  man  of 
his  era  the  possibilities  of  that  vast  country  west  of  the  Mis.sis- 
sippi,  destined  to  become  the  seat  of  empire  upon  this  continent. 
I  heard  him  at  a  little  town  on  the  Missouri  River,  standing 
with  his  right  arm  extended,  declare,  with  the  air  and  tones 
of  an  ancient  prophet,  "There  is  the  East;  there  is  the  road 
to  India,"  and  upon  his  bronze  statue  in  Forest  Park  in  St. 
Louis  to-da}-  upon  the  pedestal  are  engraved  these  prophetic 
words.  He  declared,  and  men  laughed  at  him  when  he  said  it, 
that  this  continent  would  be  bound  together  by  bands  of  iron 
which  would  carry  our  produce  to  the  Pacific  .slope  to  feed  the 
iinnunerable  millions  in  Asia  and  the  Orient. 


Sfa/urs  ot'  Tlio))ias  If.  Ihiiloii  and  h'riDicis  P.  lUair 


ULAIK,   JR. 


91 


Benton's  political  mantle  fell  logically  and  inevitably  upon 
the  shoulders  of  his  protege,  Frank  P.   Blaik,  Jr. 

Blair  was  the  son  of  Benton's  old  friend  Francis  Preston 
Blair,  who  died  here  some  years  ago  at  Silver  Springs,  almost 
in  sight  of  this  city.  When  Duff  Green,  who  was  the  original 
editor  of  the  old  Globe,  the  organ  of  the  Democrats  at  Wash- 
ington, had  differences  of  opinion  with  General  Jackson  as 
President,  the  Administration  looked  around  for  a  younger  man 
of  great  ability  and  experience  in  journalism  to  take  Green's 
place. 

Preston  Blair,  as  he  was  termed,  was  then  part  owner  and 
chief  editor  of  the  old  Argus,  of  PVankfort,  Ky.,  the  birthplace 
of  young  I-^kank  Blair.  It  was  what  was  called  in  the  new 
and  old  court  struggle  in  Kentucky  the  new  court  organ.  But 
Jackson  and  Benton,  who  had  then  become  great  friends,  sent 
for  Preston  Blair  and  made  him  the  chief  editor  of  the  Globe. 
It  was  but  natural  that  Colonel  Benton  should  ask  his  old 
friend  to  send  his  youngest  boy,  wdio  had  been  raised  in  Wash- 
ington, to  the  city  of  St.  Louis  to  become  the  protege  of  Ben- 
ton. And  so  Frank  Blair,  as  he  was  called  in  Mis.souri, 
became  a  member  of  the  vSt.  Louis  Ijar,  and,  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  political  prejudices  and  opinions  of  his  father  and 
Benton  and  Jackson,  became  the  leader  of  the  Benton  Democ- 
racy in  that  city. 

After  the  death  of  Benton,  in  1858,  Blair  became  a  member 
of  the  National  House  of  Representatives  for  the  district  where 
Benton  had  been  defeated.  He  knew  the  people  of  Missouri 
and  Kentucky  well  and  that  all  their  prejudices  and  opinions 
were  in  behalf  of  the  South.  He  knew  that  the  State  govern- 
ment, all  the  State  officers  from  the  governor  down,  and  all  the 


92  Address  of  Mr.  Vest  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

legislature,  with  but  very  few  exceptions,  were  devoted  to  the 
South.  He  knew  that  the  Missourians  were  a  martial  people, 
trained  to  the  saddle  and  the  use  of  arms  from  boyhood,  and  he 
was  certain  that  unless  ^'igorous  measures  were  immediately 
taken  to  prevent  the  State  from  organizing  it  would  throw  its 
vast  military  power  with   the   side  of   the  Confederate  States. 

Bi,AiR  immediately  and  secretly  commenced  the  organization 
of  seven  regiments  of  Germans  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  a 
people  trained  as  soldiers  in  the  Fatherland,  devoted  to  the 
Union,  and  opposed  to  slavery.  He  became,  having  had  some 
experience  in  the  Mexican  war,  colonel  of  the  first  regiment, 
and,  member  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives  as  he 
was,  when  I^incoln  was  elected,  he  hastened  to  Washington 
and  informed  Lincoln  of  the  situation  in  ^Missouri;  that  the 
United  States  arsenal  was  filled  with  munitions  of  war  and  arms 
and  must  be  seized  or  it  would  be  taken  and  used  to  arm  the 
militia  of  the  State.  He  asked  for  an  officer  educated  at  West 
Point  to  take  command  of  the  arsenal  and  of  the  Federal  forces 
in  Missouri. 

Lincoln,  a  citizen  of  Illinois  and  familiar  with  Missouri 
politics,  appreciated  what  Bi,air  said  and  immediately  sent 
Nathaniel  Lyon,  of  Connecticut,  a  West  Pointer,  to  take  charge 
of  the  troops  already  organized  and  drilled  by  Blair  in  St. 
Louis.  Lyon  fell  on  Bloody  Hill  at  the  battle  of  vSpringfield, 
as  it  is  called  by  the  F'ederals,  and  the  battle  of  Oak  Hill, 
as  it  is  called  by  the  Confederates.  He  fell  in  a  last  desperate 
charge.  If  he  had  lived,  his  fame  would  have  rivaled  that  of 
any  man  in  the  civil  war.  So  soon  as  Blaik  had  conferred 
with  Lyon,  the  latter  adopted  the  plan  of  campaign  which 
Blair  suggested.  The  State  government,  devoted  to  the 
Confederacy,  had  formed  a  camp  of  instruction  in  the  \-icinity 
of  St.  Louis,  com])osed  of  young  men,  ardent  advocates  of  the 
Southern  cause. 


S/a//frs  of  Thomas  If.  Ih-)iti>ii  aiic/  /•yaun's  [\  lUair.      93 

On  a  bright  morning,  without  premonition,  Blair  and  Lyon 
surrounded  these  1,200  State  mihtia  with  6,000  Germans, 
armed  and  drilled,  captured  Iheni,  l)n)ke  up  the  camp,  and 
started  to  the  city  with  thc-ir  prisoners.  The  people  of  vSt. 
lyouis,  taken  l)y  surprise  and  greatly  excited,  surrounded  the 
captors  and  the  captured.  A  German  captain,  aggravated  and 
incensed  by  the  jeers  and  insults  of  the  crowd,  ordered  his  men 
to  fire  upon  the  inoffensive  and  unarmed  people.  More  than 
40  were  killed  and  wounded — men,  women,  and  children — and 
in  a  few  hours  the  State  was  aflame  with  indignation. 

Blair,  although  he  was  not  anticipating  what  was  called 
the  massacre,  was  immediately  prepared  for  action  against  the 
consequences.  He  knew  that  the  railroad,  the  only  railroad 
running  west  from  St.  lyouis,  would  be  destroyed  by  the  State 
government,  but  he  seized  five  steamboats  lying  at  the  wharf, 
put  crews  upon  them,  went  up  the  river  with  his  German  regi- 
ments, captured  Jefferson  City,  the  capital,  dispersed  the  State 
government,  overwhelmed  the  few  hundred  militia,  iniarmed 
and  undisciplined,  who  met  him  at  Booneville,  and,  in  my 
judgment,  caused  Missouri  to  di\-ide  her  forces  in  the  war 
between  the  North  and  the  South  instead  of  going  solidly  to 
the  Confederate  cause,  as  but  for  him  would  have  been  the 
case. 

I  say  here  now  to-day,  deliberatel}-,  from  my  personal  knowl- 
edge of  affairs  then  in  the  vState,  that  but  for  Frank  Blair 
Missouri  would  have  given  her  solid  strength  to  the  South- 
ern cause.  I  do  not  choose  to  conjecture  what  would  have 
been  the  result.  Southern  Illinois,  Kentucky,  and  Maryland, 
as  all  the  world  knows,  sympathized  with  the  South,  and 
the  result  of  the  war  might  have  been  different  but  for  the 
wonderful  fearlessness  and  i^romptitude  with  which  Blair 
acted.  As  it  was,  the  men  of  Missouri  at  heart  in  sympathy 
with  the  South  were  unable  to  reach  the  Confederate  armies 


94  Address  of  Mr.  Vest  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

except  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  Blair,  believing  that  the 
State  was  entirely  safe  to  the  Union,  as  he  informed  Lincoln, 
then  took  his  regiment — the  first  regiment — and  joined  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  major- 
general  and  commanded  a  corps  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

When  he  came  back  to  Missouri  the  attitude  of  affairs  had 
changed  entirely.  The  Girondists,  under  the  leadership  of 
Hamilton  R.  Gamble,  had  disappeared,  and  the  Jacobins,  under 
the  leadership  of  Charles  D.  Drake,  were  in  possession  of  the 
State.  The  Drake  constitution  had  been  enacted — the  most 
drastic,  the  most  cruel,  the  most  outrageous  enactment  ever 
known  in  a  civilized  country.  No  man  could  practice  law, 
teach  school,  preach  the  gospel,  act  as  trustee,  hold  any  office 
of  honor,  tru.st,  or  profit,  or  vote  at  any  election,  unless  he 
swore  he  had  never  sympathized  with  the  cause  of  the  Con- 
federacy or  any  person  fighting  for  it.  The  father  who  had 
given  a  drink  of  water  or  a  crust  of  bread  to  his  son  who 
belonged  to  the  Confederate  forces  was  ostracised  and  put 
under  the  ban  of  the  law. 

The  intelligence,  virtue,  and  property  of  the  State  were 
driven  away  from  the  polls,  and  ignorance,  crime,  and  vice 
took  complete  control.  Old  obsolete  railroad  charters,  passed 
years  before,  giving  county  courts  the  right  to  subscribe  for  the 
construction  of  railroads  without  a  vote  of  the  people,  were 
revived.  Millions  of  dollars  of  fraudulent  bonds  were  issued  by 
bought  county  courts.  Nearly  $20,000,000  of  these  bonds  were 
hurried  out  of  the  State,  sold  to  pretended  bona  fide  buyers, 
and,  under  the  decisions  of  the  vSupreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  they  became  commercial  paper  negotiated  before  ma- 
turity for  a  valuable  consideration  to  innocent  purchasers. 

Blair  came  back  and  went  to  the  polls,  dressed  in  his  major- 
general's    uniform,   and   demanded    the   right   to   vote   without 


Statues  of  Th 01)1  as  II.  Bcntoti  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     95 

taking  the  oath.  It  was  denied,  and  he  immediately  com- 
menced suit  against  the  election  oi^cials.  Pending  that  suit,  a 
Catholic  priest  named  Cummings,  who  had  instituted  a  similar 
proceeding,  had  his  case  adjudicated  by  the  vSui)reme  Court, 
and  it  was  decided  that  the  Drake  constitution  violated  that  of 
the  United  States  and  was  a  bill  of  attainder  and  ex  post  facto 
law.  General  Blair,  not  satisfied,  attacked  the  Drake  party 
throughout  the  Commonwealth,  and  canvassed  it  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  denouncing  the  men  who  were  perpetrating  these 
iniquities  upon  the  people  of  the  State.  He  was  nominated  in 
1868  upon  the  ticket  with  Seymour  for  the  Vice- Presidency, 
but  defeated.  He  was  then  elected  to  the  Missouri  legislature, 
and  before  he  had  fairly  taken  his  seat  Drake  was  made  by 
Grant  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Claims,  and  Blair  was 
elected  to  fill  out  his  unexpired  term.  At  the  end  of  that  term 
his  health  was  completely  shattered,  and  he  was  defeated  for 
reelection  simpl}'  upon  the  ground  that  he  was  phj'sicallj' 
unable  to  discharge  his  Senatorial   duties. 

He  had  more  personal  friends  than  any  public  man  who  ever 
lived  in  Mis.souri.  He  had  bitter  enemies,  like  all  men  of 
positive  convictions  will  always  have,  but  even  his  enemies 
never  doubted  Frank  Blair's  sincerity,  and  always  respected 
hira  because  he  was  open,  fair,  fearless,  honest,  and  true  to  his 
convictions. 

Mr.  President,  these  men  sleep  together  in  Mis.souri  soil 
almost  side  by  side,  and  .so  long  as  this  Capitol  shall  .stand  or 
this  nation  exi.st  their  statues  will  be  eloquent  although  .silent 
pledges  of   Missouri's  eternal  allegiance  to  an  eternal  Union. 


96       Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell  on  the  Acceptance  0/  the 


Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell,  of  Missourl 

THOMAS    HART    BENTOX. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  exceedingly  appropriate  that  the  State 
of  Missouri  should  provide  and  furnish  the  marble  statues  of 
Thomas  Hart  Benton  and  Francis  Preston  Blair  as  the 
two  deceased  persons  who  have  been  citizens  thereof  and  illus- 
trious for  historic  renown  and  for  distinguished  civic  services. 

Benton  was  Missouri's  great  Senator  and  benefactor,  and 
upon  his  death  Blair  became  his  successor  in  accomplishing 
many  measures  dear  to  him. 

Parentage  and  environments  in  youth  to  manhood  have  great 
influence  in  developing  the  elements  of  character. 

Benton  was  born  near  Hillsboro,  in  Orange  County,  N.  C, 
on  March  14,  1782. 

His  father  was  Col.  Jesse  Benton,  a  lawyer  of  high  standing 
and  distinction,  who  was  the  private  secretary  of  Governor 
Try  on,  the  last  royal  governor  of  North  Carolina.  His  mother 
was  Ann  Gooch,  of  Hanover  County,  Va. 

He  was  a  cousin  of  the  wife  of  Henry  Clay,  born  Lucretia 
Hart,  and  was  often,  by  an  easy  mistake,  quoted  as  a  relative 
of  Mr.  Clay.      Benton  in  his  autobiography  says: 

He  lost  his  father  before  he  was  8  years  of  age  and  fell  under  the  care 
of  a  mother  still  yovmg  and  charged  with  a  numerous  family,  all  of  tender 
age,  and  devoted  herself  to  them. 

She  was  a  woman  of  reading  and  observation — solid  reading  and  ob.ser- 
vation  of  the  men  of  the  Revolution  brought  together  by  course  of  hospi- 
tality of  that  time,  in  which  the  houses  of  friends  and  not  taverns  were 
the  universal  stopping  places. 

Thomas  was  the  oldest  son,  and  at  the  age  of  10  and  12  was  reading 
solid  books  with  his  mother  and  studying  the  great  examples  of  history 
and  receiving  encouragement  to  emulate  these  examples. 


Sfafiirs  of  Thovias  H.  Boitoti  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      97 

His  father's  library,  among  others,  contained  the  famous  State  trials  in 
the  large  folios  of  that  time,  and  here  he  got  a  foundation  of  British  his- 
tory in  reading  the  treason  and  other  trials  with  which  these  volumes 
abound.  She  was  also  a  pious  and  religious  woman,  cultivating  the 
moral  and  religious  education  of  her  children  and  connected  all  her  life 
with  the  Christian  Church,  first  as  a  member  of  the  English  Episcopalian, 
and  when  removal  to  the  great  West — then  in  the  wilderness — had  broken 
that  connection,  then  in  the  Methodist  Episcopalian,  in  which  she  died. 
All  the  minor  virtues,  as  well  as  the  greater,  were  cherished  by  her,  and 
her  house,  the  resort  of  the  eminent  men  of  the  time,  was  the  abode  of 
teniperance,  modesty,  and  decorum.  A  pack  of  cards  was  never  seen  in 
her  house. 

From  such  a  mother  all  the  children  received  the  impress  of  future 
character,  and  she  lived  to  see  the  fruits  of  her  pious  and  liberal  cares — 
living  a  widow  above  fifty  years — and  to  see  her  eldest  son  half  through 
his  Senatorial  career  and  taking  his  place  among  the  historic  men  of 
the  country,  for  which  she  had  begun  so  early  to  train  him.  These 
details  deserve  to  be  noted,  though  small  in  themselves,  as  showing  how 
much  the  after  life  of  the  man  may  depend  upon  the  early  cares  and 
guidance  of  a  mother. 

He  was  richlj'  endowed  by  inheritance  from  father  and 
mother  with  a  robust,  healthful  body,  capable  of  the  greatest 
possible  labors  and  endurance,  and  a  .strong,  active,  gra.sping, 
and  retentive  mind,  capable  of  long,  continuous,  laborious  work 
and  of  holding  and  storing  away  information  and  facts,  knowl- 
edge for  use  as  occasion  offered. 

His  scholastic  education  was  limited.  He  attended  a  gram- 
mar school,  and  was  then  a  student  at  Chapel  Hill,  the  Univers- 
ity of  North  Carolina,  but  did  not  finish  his  course  of  study, 
his  mother  removing  to  Tennessee,  where  his  father  had 
acqtiired  40,000  acres  of  land. 

The  family  settled  tipon  a  choice  3,000-acre  tract  in  West 
Harpeth,  25  miles  .south  of  Nashville,  the  care  and  manage- 
ment of  which  fell  upon  him.  It  was  the  outside  settlement 
between  civilization  and  the  great  Southern  Indian  tribes, 
which  spread  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  their  great  trail  led 
through  it.  Lands  were  lea.sed  to  .settlers,  and  a  colony  was 
S.  Doc.  456 7 


98       Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

soon  formed.  A  log  schoolhoit.se,  ineetinghon.se,  and  mills 
were  erected. 

While  his  scholastic  edncation  had  cea.sed,  his  studies  had 
not.  ' '  History  and  geograph}^  were  what  he  considered  his 
light  reading;  national  law,  the  civil  law,  the  common  law, 
and,  finally,  the  law  itself,  as  u.sually  read  by  .students,  con.sti- 
tuted  his  studies.  And  all  this  reading  and  study  was  carried 
on  during  the  active  personal  exertions  which  he  gave  to  the 
opening  of  the  farm  and  to  the  ameliorations  upon  it  which 
comfort  exacted. 

He  was  licensed  to  practice  law  by  the  three  .superior  court 
judges,  began  the  practice,  and  was  .successful.  He  was  promi- 
nent politically,  was  the  friend  of  General  Jackson,  and  was 
soon  elected  to  the  general  a.s.sembly  of  the  State  and  there 
began  his  career  as  a  true  reformer,  and  was  the  author  of 
the  judicial-reform  act,  substituting  the  circuit  for  the  .superior 
court  system,  and  of  a  humane  law  giving  to  slaves  the  same 
right  to  trial  by  jury  as  the  white  man  had  under  the  same 
accu.sation. 

Resuming  his  practice,  war  was  declared  by  Congress  on 
June  18,  1S12,  to  "exist  between  the  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and 
the  United  States  of  America  and  their  Territories. 

Volunteers  were  called  for  to  descend  the  rivers  to  New  Or- 
leans to  meet  the  British.  Three  Tennessee  regiments  were 
quickly  formed,  and  "Thomas  H.  Benton  was  appointed 
colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment  Tennessee  Volunteers,  Decem- 
ber u),  18 1 2,  and  .served  as  of  that  grade  until  April  20,  18 13." 

On  the  fir.st  indications  of  the  war  he  had  been  appointed 
aid-de-camp  to  General  Jackson,  commanding  the  Tennessee 
militia,  and  was  active  and  energetic  in  organizing  the  regi- 
ments. 


Sfafiirs  of  T/ion/as  If.  Bento)i  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     99 

The  volunteers  descended  to  the  Lower  Mississippi;  the 
British  did  not  then  come,  and  they  returned  to  Tennessee 
and  were  teniporarih'  disbanded. 

Cohnicl  Benton  came  to  Washini^ton  and  was  apjwinted 
Heutenant-colonel  of  the  Thirt>--ninth  Rej^inient  United  vStates 
Infantry,  to  rank  from  June  18,  1813,  and  proceeded  to  Canada 
for  service. 

The  treaty  of  peace  was  sif:^ned  at  Ghent  on  the  24th  day 
of  December,  18 14,  was  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the  vSenate 
on  the  17th  day  of  Febrtiary,  18 15,  and  was  ijroclaimed  by 
President  IMadi.son  on  the  i8th  day  of  February,  18 15.  Under 
the  act  of  March  3,  18 15,  for  the  redtiction  of  the  Army  to  a 
peace  basis,  Benton  was  discharged  as  Heutenant-colonel  on 
the  15th  day  of  June,   1815,  with  three  months'  extra  pay. 

He  at  once  made  St.  Louis  his  home  and  recommenced  his 
profession  with  success,  mingling  actively  in  discu.ssing  polit- 
ical and  public  questions  and  advocating  the  admission  of  the 
Territory  of  Missouri  as  a  State  in  the  Union.  Congress,  by 
act  of  March  6,  1820,  authorized  the  inhabitants  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  Missouri  Territory  therein  described  ' '  to  form  for 
themselves  a  constitution  and  vState  government,  and  to  assume 
such  name  as  they  shall  deem  proper,"  for  admission  into 
the  Union  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States, 
fixed  the  first  Monday  of  May,  1820,  and  the  two  next  suc- 
ceeding days  for  the  election  of  representatives  to  iorm  a  con- 
vention, and  the  second  Monday  of  Jtme,  1820,  for  the  meeting 
of  the  convention;  and  by  section  8  prohibited  slaA-ery  in  all 
that  territory  ceded  by  France  north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude, 
which  was  called  the  "  Mi.s,souri  Compromi.se"  and  adopted 
after  a  prolonged  and  bitter  controversy. 

The  representatives  to  the  convention  were  elected  on  the 
first   Monday  of  May  and  the  two  succeeding  days,  lieing  the 


lOO    Address  of  Mr.  Cock  re  II  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

first,  second,  and  third  days,  and  met  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  the 
second  Monday  in  June,  being  the  12th  day  of  June,  1820,  and 
completed  their  labors  on  July  19,  1820,  and  passed  an  ordi- 
nance declaring  the  assent  of  Missouri  to  the  five  conditions 
and  provisions  of  the  enabling  act  of  March  6,  1820,  contained 
in  the  sixth  section  of  said  act,  and  transmitted  to  Congress  a 
true  and  attested  copy  of  such  constitution. 

The  constitution  so  adopted  on  July  19,  1820,  required  the 
president  of  the  convention  to  issue  writs  of  election  to  the 
sheriffs  directing  elections  to  be  held  on  the  fourth  Monday  — 
the  28th  day  —  of  August,  1820,  for  the  election  of  a  governor, 
heutenant-governor,  Representative  in  Congress,  State  senators 
and  representatives,  and  county  ofl&cers. 

It  required  the  general  assembly  to  meet  in  St.  Louis  on  the 
third  Monday — the  i8th  day — of  September,  1820,  and  on  the 
first  Monday  in  November,  1821,  and  on  the  first  Monday  of 
November,  1822,  and  thereafter  every  two  years. 

Section  26  of  the  constitution,  referring  to  the  general  assem- 
bly, declared: 

It  shall  be  their  duty  as  soon  as  may  be  to  pass  such  laws  as  mav  be 
necessary  to  prevent  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  coming  to  and  set- 
tling in  this  State  under  any  pretext  whatever. 

The  election  for  State  and  other  officers  was  held  on  August 
28,  1820,  and  the  first  general  assembly  met  in  St.  Louis  on 
September  18,  1820,  and  the  governor  and  lieutenant-governor 
elected  were  duly  inaugurated  and  entered  upon  their  dtities, 
and  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  were  duly  organ- 
ized and  proceeded  with  their  bttsiness,  and  on  October  2,  1820, 
elected  David  Barton  and  Thomas  Hart  Bentox  Senators 
from  that  State,  Benton  being  elected  by  i  majority.  The 
whole  machinery  of  State  and  county  governments  was  com- 
pleted and  put  in  operation  before  the  State  was  admitted  into 
the  Union. 


S/ir/ui's  of  Thomas  II.  Bcutou  a /id  Francis  P.  Blair.    loi 

On  November  14,  1820,  the  day  after  Congress  convened,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  sent  to  the  Senate  a  copy  of  the 
constitution  so  adopted. 

On  motion  of  Senator  Smith,  it  was  ordered  that  "a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  to  inquire  whether  any,  and  if  any  what, 
legislatiA-e  measures  may  be  necessary  for  admitting  the  State 
of  Missouri  into  the  Union,"  and  a  committee  of  three  was 
appointed,  and  the  copy  of  the  constitution  was  referred  to  the 
committee  and  ordered  printed.  On  November  16,  1820,  in 
the  Hou.se  of  Representatives.  Mr.  Scott,  who  was  the  Delegate 
in  Congress  from  the  Territory  of  Missouri  elected  to  the  Six- 
teenth Congress  and  had  been  elected  the  Representative  to  the 
Seventeenth  Congress,  beginning  March  4,  i«2i,  presented  a 
manuscript  attested  copy  of  the  constitution  to  the  House, 
and  it  was  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  three. 

A  long  and  heated  controversy  arose  in  the  House  and  in 
the  Senate  over  the  clau.se  in  the  constitution  which  I  have 
quoted. 

Man>-  measures  were  proposed  and  di.scussed  from  time  to 
time. 

Finally,  on  the  22d  day  of  February,  182 1,  Mr.  Clay  moved 

the  adoption  by  the  House  of  a  resolution,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  on  the  part  of  this  House, 
jointly  with  such  committee  as  may  be  appointed  on  the  part  of  the 
Senate,  to  consider  and  report  to  the  Senate  and  House,  respectively, 
whether  it  be  expedient  or  not  to  make  provision  for  the  admission  of 
Missouri  into  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  original  States,  and 
for  the  due  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  within  Missouri; 
and  if  not,  whether  any  other,  and  what,  provision  adapted  to  her  actual 
condition  ought  to  be  made  by  law. 

This  resolution  was  pas.sed  by  the  House  on  the  same  da>-  by 
yeas  10 1  and  nays  55. 

Mr.  Clay  moved  that  the  committee  consist  of  23  members, 
to  be  elected  by  ballot,  which  was  agreed  to. 

On    February   23  a   ballot  was   had,   and    17   members   were 


I02     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

elected  on  the  first  ballot.  Mr.  Clay  then  moved  the  rescind- 
ing of  the  order  as  to  the  selection  of  the  remaining  6  members, 
which  was  agreed  to,  and  the  6  remaining  members  were 
appointed  b}^  the  Speaker. 

On  February  24  the  resolution  of  the  House  was  reported 
to  the  Senate,  taken  up,  and  passed  b}'  yeas  29,  nays  7,  and  a 
committee  of  7  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  Senate. 

On  February  26  Mr.  Cla3\  from  the  joint  committee,  reported 
to  the  House  a  joint  resolution,  which  was  read  the  first  and 
second  times  and  laid  on  the  table;  and  afterwards,  on  same 
day,  considered  and  passed  by  yeas  109  and  nays  50. 

On  February  27  the  resolution  was  reported  to  the  Senate 
and  read  twice  by  unanimous  consent,  and  was  ordered  read  a 
third  time  by  yeas  26,  nays  15. 

On  Februar}'  28  .the  resolution  was  read  the  third  time  in  the 
Senate,  and  passed  by  yeas  28,  nays  14,  and  was  approved  by 
the  President  March  2,  182 1,  and  is  as  follows: 

RESOLUTION  providing  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri  into  the  Union  on 
a  certain  condition. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assemblid,  That  Missouri  shall  be  admitted  into 
this  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States  in  all  respects 
whatever  upon  the  fundamental  condition  that  the  fourth  clause  of  the 
twentj^-sixth  section  of  the  third  article  of  the  constitution,  submitted  on 
the  part  of  said  State-  to  Congress,  shall  never  be  construed  to  authorize 
the  passage  of  any  law,  and  that  no  law  shall  be  passed  in  conformity 
thereto,  by  which  any  citizen  of  either  of  the  States  in  this  Union  shall  be 
excluded  from  the  enjoyment  of  any  of  the  privileges  and  immunities  to 
which  such  citizen  is  entitled  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States: 
Provided,  That  the  legislature  of  the  said  State,  by  a  solemn  public  act, 
shall  declare  the  assent  of  the  said  State  to  the  said  fundamental  condition, 
and  shall  transmit  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  or  before  the 
fourth  Monday  in  November  next  an  authentic  copy  of  the  said  act;  upon 
the  receipt  whereof  the  President,  by  proclamation,  shall  announce  the 
fact;  whereupon,  and  without  any  further  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Con- 
gress, the  admission  of  the  said  Slate  into  this  Union  shall  l)e  considered  as 
complete. 


Sfafid's  of  TJiomas  fl.  Ben /on  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      103 

The  governor  ot"  Missouri  called  the  general  assembly  in  s])e- 
cial  session  on  June  4,  1821,  which  passed  "A  solemn  public 
act,  declaring  the  assent  of  this  State  to  the  fundamental  condi- 
tion contained  in  a  resolution  passed  by  the  Congress  of  the 
Ignited  vStates  providing  for  the  admission  of  the  vState  (jf 
Missouri  into  the  l^nion  on  a  certain  condition,"  which  was 
approved  June  26,    1821,  and  transmitted  to  the  President. 

On  August  10,  182 1,  President  Monroe  issued  his  proclama- 
tion announcing  the  fact,  and  Missouri  was  on  that  day  a  vState 
in  the  Union. 

The  Seventeenth  Congress,  March  4,  182 1,  to  March  3,  1823, 
began  its  first  session  on   Decemljer  3,    182 1. 

The  credentials  of  Barton  and  Bentox  were  dated  Octol^er  9, 

1820,  certified  their  election  on  October  2,  and  were  for  the 
first  time  presented   to  the  Senate — Barton's  on  December  3, 

182 1,  and  Benton's  on  December  6,  1821 — were  read,  and  the 
oath  administered  to  each  on  said  days,  respectively,  when  each 
took  his  seat. 

On  December  6,  1821,  on  motion  of  Senator  Parrott,  the 
Senate  proceeded  to  ascertain  the  classes  in  wdiicli  the  Senators 
from  Missouri  should  be  inserted.  Barton  drew  No.  2,  and  was 
assigned  to  class  3,  expiring  March  3,  1825;  and  Benton  drew 
No.  3,  and  was  assigned  to  class  i,  expiring  March  3,  1827. 

While  they  were  elected  October  2,  1820,  before  the  State 
was  admitted  into  the  Union,  on  August  10,  1821,  and  their 
credentials  never  presented  to  the  Senate  till  December  3  and 
6,  1821,  and  no  oath  previously  administered  to  them,  and  no 
record  in  the  Journals  of  the  Senate  of  their  names  or  presence, 
the  records  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  dated  March  3,  182 1, 
and  signed  by  John  Gaillard,  President  pro  tempore,  show  that 
they  were  certified  to  have  attended.  Barton  from  November 
14,  1820,  and  Benton  from  November  18,  1820,  each,  to  March 


I04     Address  of  Mr.  CockrcU  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

3,  182 1,  and  were  paid  their  regular  per  diem  salary  and  mile- 
age, just  as  other  Senators  were.  Colonel  Benton  was  suc- 
cessive!}' reelected  for  four  more  terms,  and  ser\'ed  continuously 
to  March  3,  185 1,  through  the  Seventeenth  to  the  Thirty-first 
Congress,  both  inclusive,  fifteen  Congresses. 

The  sixteenth  general  assembly  of  Missouri  met  December 
30,  1850.  and  sat  in  joint  convention  to  choose  a  United  States 
Senator  on  January  10,  1S51,  and  from  day  to  day  till  the  22d, 
when,  after  a  protracted  and  fierce  contest,  on  the  fortieth 
ballot,  Henry  S.  Geyer,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  Whig,  was 
elected  by  80  votes  to  55  for  Benton,  18  for  B.  F.  Striugfellow, 
and  4  scattering. 

In  1852  he  was  elected  a  Representative  from  St.  Louis  to 
the  Thirty-third  Congress,  March  4,  1853,  to  March  3,  1855, 
and  was  defeated  for  reelection  to  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress. 
Mr.  Benton  served  in  the  Seventeenth  Congress  on  Commit- 
tees on  Engrossed  Bills,  Public  I,ands,  Indian  Affairs,  and 
Military  Affairs;  in  the  Eighteenth  Congress,  on  Engrossed 
Bills,  Indian  Affairs,  and  Military  Affairs;  in  the  Nineteenth, 
Twentieth,  Twenty-first,  and  Twenty-second  Congresses,  on 
Indian  Affairs  and  Mihtary  Affairs;  in  the  Twenty-third, 
Twenty-fourth,  Twenty-fifth,  and  Twenty-sixth  Congresses, 
on  :\Iilitary  Affairs  only;  in  the  Twenty-seventh  and  Twenty- 
eighth  Congresses,  on  Military  Affairs  and  Indian  Affairs;  in 
the  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  on  Military  Affairs  and  Finance; 
in  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  on  Military  Affairs  and  Foreign 
Relations,  and  in  the  Thirty-first  Congress,  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions only;  served  twenty-eight  years  on  Military  Affairs  and 
sixteen  years  on  Indian  Affairs. 

In  the  Thirty-third  Congress,  in  the  House,  1 853-1 855,  Mr. 
Benton  was  appointed  on  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 

According  to  the  records.  Senator  Benton  did  not  introduce 


Statues  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      105 

many  bills.      In  fact,  durin.u:  his  term  coniparativcly  tew  l)ills 
were  presented. 

In  the  Twentieth  Congress,  1827-1829,  there  were  presented 
in  the  vSenate  175  bills  of  a  public  nature,  73  private  bills,  and 
3  joint  resolutions;  and  in  the  House,  256  public  bills,  206 
private  bills,  and  26  joint  resolutions;  126  public  acts,  100 
private  acts,  and  9  joint  resolutions  were  passed. 

In  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  1847- 1849,  there  were  presented 
in  the  Senate  275  public  bills,  227  private  bills,  71  joint  resolu- 
tions, and  9  private  pension  bills;  and  in  the  House,  449  public 
bills,  382  private  bills,  65  joint  resolutions,  and  4  jirivate 
pension  bills. 

In  the  Forty-fifth  Congress,  1877-1879,  there  were  presented 
in  the  Senate  995  public  bills,  870  private  bills,  72  joint  reso- 
lutions, and  195  private  pen.sion  bills;  and  in  the  Hotise,  2,710 
pttblic  bills,  3,899  private  bills,  250  joint  resolutions,  and  1,319 
private  pension  bills;  254  public,  443  private,  and  211  private 
pension  acts  were  passed. 

In  the  Fifty-fifth  Congress,  1897-1899,  there  were  presented 
in  the  Senate  1,597  public  bills,  3,997  private  bills,  261  joint 
resolutions,  and  1,876  private  pen.sion  bills;  and  in  the  House, 
2,563  public  bills,  9,660  private  bills,  385  joint  resolutions,  and 
3,768  private  pension  bills;  449  public,  884  private,  and  684 
private  pension  acts  were  passed. 

From  1820  to  1850  Senators  had  much  more  time  to  devote 
to  the  investigation  and  discussion  of  pending  measures,  and 
much  less  committee  work,  than  in  recent  years.  During  his 
entire  term  Senator  Benton  was  punctual  in  attending  the 
sessions  of  the  Senate,  and  took  an  active  and  conspicuous  part 
in  its  proceedings.  In  his  discussions  of  pending  questions, 
his  thorough  investigation,  familiarity  with  the  facts,  and  clear 
conception  of  the  influences  and  the  effects,  present  and  future, 
were  made  manifest.  He  exhausted  the  information  and  facts 
touching  the  subjects  he  discussed. 


io6     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell  on  tJie  Acceptance  of  tJic 

When  he  entered  the  Senate  salt  was  subject  to  a  tariff  tax 
of  20  cents  per  bushel  of  56  pounds,  and  the  public  lands,  by  the 
act  of  April  24,  1820,  had  been  reduced  to  $1.25  per  acre,  cash. 

The  question  of  the  occupation  and  settlement  of  the  Oregon 
Territory  on  the  Columbia  River  was  pending  and  received  his 
earnest  support.  He  urged  the  planting  of  an  American  colony 
at  the  mouth  of  that  river,  claiming,  with  great  foresight,  that 
it  would  result  in  the  accomplishment  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  idea  of 
a  commercial  communication  with  Asia  through  the  heart  of 
our  continent,  and  that  his  efforts  in  that  behalf  were  "  nothing 
but  the  fruits  of  the  seed  planted  in  his  mind  l)y  the  i)hilosophic 
hand  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  man  of  large  and  useful  ideas,  that 
.statesman  who  could  conceive  measures  useful  to  all  mankind 
and  in  all  time  to  come." 

He  opposed  the  Oregon  Joint  Occupation  Convention  with 
England  almost  alone,  but  eighteen  years  later  had  the  pleas- 
ure and  honor  of  almost  unanimous  .support. 

He  oppo.sed,  by  many  speeches  at  different  times,  the  tariff 
tax  on  imported  salt,  neither  di.scouraged  nor  dismayed,  and 
finally  succeeded  in  having  it  placed  on  the  free  list  in  the 
tariff  law  of  July  30,  1846. 

He  oppo.sed  the  Government  leasing  the  mineral  and  saline 
lands,  and  succeeded  in  having  those  in  Missouri  made  subject 
to  entry,  as  other  lands. 

He  strongly  opposed  the  Panama  mission,  proposed  by 
President  Adams,  and  the  confirmation  of  the  nominees.  On 
motion  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  Senate  "Resolved  to  debate 
the  question  with  open  doors,  unless,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
President,  the  pul)lication  of  documents  necessary  to  be  referred 
to  in  debate  .should  be  prejudicial  to  existing  negotiations." 

A  copy  of  the  resolution  was  sent  to  the  President  for  his 
opinion  on  that  point.      He  declined  to  give  it,  and  left  it  to 


S//r/urs  o/'riio))ias  If.  Bciilo)i  a i/d  Francis  /\  JUair.      107 

the  Senate  to  decide  for  itself  "  the  question  of  an  unexampled 
departure  from  its  own  usag^es  and  upon  the  motives  of  which, 
not  hcini;  himself  informed,  he  did  not  feel  himself  com])etent 
to  decide." 

A  heated  and  intemperate  discussion  followed,  which  (piickly 
cooled  off  and  died  out  completely. 

vSenator  Benton  maintained  with  his  characteristic  firmness 
the  old  policy  of  the  United  States  to  avoid  entanglincj  alliances 
and  interference  with  the  affairs  of  other  nations,  so  strongly 
impressed  upon  the  country  by  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
others. 

When  President  Jackson,  in  his  first  annual  message  in  1829, 
raised  the  question  of  the  con.stitutionalit>-  and  expediency  of 
the  law  creating  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  whose  charter 
would  expire  in  1836,  Mr.  Benton  began  an  unrelenting  oppo- 
sition to  its  recharter  and  continued  it  till  success  was  achieved 
after  a  prolonged  discus.sion  re.sulting  in  much  bitterness  of 
feeling  and  in  other  questions  equally  exasperating,  including 
the  resolution  of 'censure  of  President  Jackson  and  the  rem{)\-al 
of  the  deposits  from  the  bank. 

The  resolution  of  the  Senate  condenniing  President  Jackson 
for  removing  the  deposits  of  the  Treasury  from  the  bank  was 
presented  December  26,  1833,  was  changed  twice,  and  finally 
read,  ''  Reso/vrd,  That  the  Pre.sident.  in  the  late  executive  pro- 
ceedings in  relation  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon 
himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution 
and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both,"  and  was  pas.sed  March 
28,  1834,  by  yeas  26,  nays  20. 

On  April  15,  1834,  President  Jack.son  .sent  to  the  Senate  his 
protest  against  the  resolution,  which  was  read  in  the  Senate, 
and  the  Senate  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  entered  upon  the 
records  of  its  Journal. 


io8     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

When  the  protest  was  read,  Senator  Benton  gave  notice  of 
his  intention  to  move  an  expunging  resolution  against  the 
sentence  of  the  Senate. 

On  April  21,  1834,  the  President  sent  to  the  Senate  a  message 
explanatory  of  the  proper  meaning  of  his  protest. 

Mr.  Benton,  in  execution  of  his  unswerving  determination, 
presented  his  expunging  resolution  time  after  time,  and  argued 
it  in  three  or  more  set  speeches,  and  fiuall}-,  on  March  16,  1837, 
secured  its  passage  by  3'eas  24  and  nays  19  —  5  absent.  He 
opposed  the  passage  of  the  law  of  June  23,  1836,  "An  act  to 
regulate  deposits  of  the  public  money,"  distributing  the  surplus 
money  in  the  Treasur}-  to  the  States. 

He  favored  the  law  establishing  branches  of  the  mint  at 
New  Orleans,  La.,  Dahlonega,  Ga.,  and  Charlotte,  N.  C,  and 
the  coinage  law  of  Januarj-  18,  1837,  fixing  the  standard  for 
both  gold  and  silver  coins  at  nine-tenths  fine  and  one-tenth 
alloy,  which  was  supplementary  to  the  "Act  of  April  2,  1792, 
establishing  a  mint  and  regulating  the  coins  of  the  United 
States,"  our  first  coinage  law,  and  gave  to  both  gold  and  silver 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  into  full  legal-tender  money,  inde- 
pendently of  all  nations,  at  the  ratio  of  15.988  of  silver  to  i  of 
gold,  practically  16  to  i,  thus  reducing  the  quantity  of  gold  in 
the  dollar  and  leaving  the  quantit}'  of  412)^  grains  of  silver  to 
the  dollar  unchanged.  He  and  his  colleague,  Senator  Linn, 
distinguished  and  able,  secured  the  pas.sage  of  the  act  of  June  7, 
1836,  "An  act  to  extend  the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of 
Missouri  to  the  Missouri  River,"  on  the  extinguishment  of  the 
Indian  title  and  the  consent  of  Missouri.  And  that  magnificent 
country,  comprising  six  rich  and  populous  counties  in  north- 
western Missouri,  became  a  part  of  Missouri  by  the  President's 
proclamation  of  March  28,  1837.  He  opposed  the  bill  to  repeal 
or  rescind  the  Treasury  circular  known  as  the  ' '  specie  circu- 
lar," issued  under  President  Jackson,  requiring  gold  and  silver 
coins  in  payment  for  public  lands,  which  was  passed  and  vetoed. 


Stafucs  of  Thomas  H.  Denton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     109 

He  favored  the  establishment  of  the  iiulepeudeut  treasuries 
for  the  deposit  of  pubhc  funds  and  the  cHvorcement  of  the  Gov- 
ernment from  the  banks.  He  opposed  the  law  of  September  4, 
1 84 1,  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public 
land,  and  the  bills  to  charter  a  national  bank  vetoed  by  Presi- 
dent Tyler,  and  the  assumption  by  the  United  States  of  the 
debts  of  the  States.  He  opposed  the  Texas  annexation  treaty 
and  favored  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas  and 
the  taxation  of  bank-note  circulation. 

True  and  faithful  to  the  policy  of  settling  Oregon  Territory 
with  Americans,  he  favored  the  Oregon  land-donation  act  of 
September  27,  1850,  and  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  a  railroad 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

On  February  7,  1849,  Senator  Bentox  asked  leave  to  intro- 
duce ' "  A  bill  to  provide  for  the  location  and  construction  of  a 
central  national  road  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Missi.ssippi 
River,  with  a  branch  of  .said  road  to  the  Columbia  River,"  and 
in  explanation   said: 

When  we  acquired  Louisiana  Mr.  Jefferson  revived  this  idea  of  estab- 
lishing an  inland  communication  between  the  two  sides  of  the  continent, 
and  for  that  purpose  the  well-known  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke  was 
sent  out  by  him.  *  *  *  About  thirty  years  ago  I  began  to  turn  my 
attention  to  this  subject.  *  *  *  I  followed  the  idea  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
La  Salle,  and  others,  and  attempted  to  revive  attention  to  their  plans. 
*  *  *  I  then  expressed  the  confident  belief  that  this  route  would  cer- 
tainly be  established  immediately  with  the  aid  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment, and  eventually,  even  without  that  aid,  by  the  progress  of  events 
and  the  force  of  circuni-stances.     *     *     * 

I  go  for  a  national  highway  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific,  and  I 
go  against  all  schemes  of  individuals  or  of  companies,  and  especially  those 
who  come  here  and  ask  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  Slates  to  give  them- 
selves and  their  assigns  the  means  of  making  a  road  and  taxing  the  people 
for  the  use  of  it.  *  *  *  I  propose  to  reserve  ground  for  all  sorts  of 
roads,  railway,  plank,  macadamized.  More  than  that,  room  for  a  track 
by  magnetic  power,  according  to  the  idea  stated,  I  believe,  by  Professor 
Henry,  and,  to  me,  plausibly  pursued  by  Professor  Page,  of  the  Patent 
Office,  if  that  idea  ripens  into  practicability,  and  who  can  undertake  to 
say  that  any  idea  will  not  become  practicable  in  the  present  age  ?     *     *     * 


no     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  oji  the  Acceptance  of  the 

An  American  road  to  India  through  the  heart  of  our  country  will  revive 
upon  its  line  all  the  wonders  of  which  we  have  read  and  eclipse  them. 
The  western  wilderness  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Mississippi  will  start  into 
life  under  its  touch.  A  long  line  of  cities  will  grow  up.  Existing  cities 
will  take  a  new  start.  The  state  of  the  world  calls  for  a  new  road  to 
India,  and  it  is  our  destiny  to  give  it,  the  last  and  greatest.  Let  us  act 
up  to  the  greatness  of  the  occasion  and  show  ourselves  worthy  of  the 
extraordinary  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed  by  securing,  while 
we  can,  an  American  road  to  India — central  and  national — for  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  now  and  hereafter,  for  thousands  of  3-ears  to  come. 

lie  advocated  the  right  of  preemption  to  settlers  tipon  the 
pubhc  lands,  to  induce  their  occupation  \yy  individuals,  and  the 
graduation  of  the  minimum  price  of  $1.25  per  acre  to  $1  for  all 
lands  in  the  market  undisposed  of  for  ten  years,  75  cents  per 
acre  for  all  in  market  fifteen  years,  and  so  on  down  to  12^ 
cents  per  acre. 

The  graduation  act  was  pa.s.sed  August  4,  1854,  'while  he  was 
a  member  of  the  House,  and  the  homestead  law  was  passed 
May  20.  1862. 

During  his  illustrious  career  his  most  prominent  character- 
istics were  his  devotion  to  the  Union  of  the  States  and  his 
burning  antipathy  to  nullification,  secession,  and  any  and  every 
other  measure  that  might  endanger  the  Union,  and  to  the 
recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank  and  to  the  charter  of  a 
national  bank  under  President  Tyler.  He  favored  the  main- 
tenance of  the  "Missouri  Compromise"  of  1820,  and  aggres- 
sively opposed  its  repeal,  holding  that  all  mea.sitres  in  that 
direction  were  ' '  fire  brands, ' '  calculated  to  increase  and  eml)itter 
sectional  prejudices,  which  might  lead  to  disiuiion. 

The  friend  and  defender  of  President  Jackson,  he  full\-  sus- 
tained him  in  his  firm  and  luiwavering  course  in  regard  to  the 
"Nullification  ordinance"  pa.ssed  by  the  State  convention  of 
South  Carolina  on  November  24,  1832.  Again.st  this  nullifi- 
cation ordinance  President  Jack.son  issued  his  celebrated  and 
jiatriolic  proclamation  of  December  10,   1832,  and  his  message 


S/,r///<s  of  'f/iofuas  II.  Boifoii  and  I-ra)nis  /'.  lUai)\      i  1 1 

to  Congress  of  January  i6,  1833,  both  of  wliirli  toiind  in  Mr. 
Bkn'Tox  an  ardent  and  able  supporter. 

During  the  discussion  of  these  and  Mr.  Calhoun's  nulHfica- 
tion  resohition  Mr.  Hi':nT()X  formed  the  conchi.sion  that  Mr. 
Calhoun's  ulterior  object  was  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and 
was  ever  thereafter  on  the  alert  for  any  movement  in  that  direc- 
tion and  ready  to  combat  it. 

On  January  15,  1849,  State  Senator  C.  F.  Jack.son  reported 
to  the  .senate  of  the  general  as.sembly  of  Missouri  ' '  resolutions 
on  the  sul^ject  of  slavery,"  known  as  the  "Jack.son  resolu- 
tions," denying  any  right  "on  the  part  of  Congress  to  legislate 
on  the  .subject  so  as  to  affect  the  institution  of  .slavery  in  the 
vStates,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territories,"  and 
asserting  "  the  right  to  prohibit  slavery  in  any  Territory  belongs 
exclu.sively  to  the  people  thereof  and  can  only  be  exercised  by 
them  in  forming  their  constitution  for  a  State  government  or  in 
their  sovereign  capacity  as  an  independent  State,"  and  "that 
in  the  event  of  the  pa.s.sage  of  any  act  of  Congress  conflicting 
with  the  principles  herein  expres.sed,  Missouri  will  be  found  in 
hearty  cooperation  with  the  slaveholding  States  in  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  found  necessary  for  our  mutual  protection 
against  the  encroachments  of  Northern  fanaticism,"  and  "that 
our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed,  and  our  Representatives 
be  requested,  to  act  in  conformity  to  the  foregoing  resolutions." 

They  were  passed  by  the  .senate  January  26,  1849 — yeas,  23; 
na>s,  6 — and  by  the  hou.se  March  6 — yeas,  53;  nays  27— after 
warm  and  protracted  debate  in  each  body. 

Senator  Benton'.s  fifth  term  was  to  expire  on  March  3,  1851, 
and  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelection. 

The  resolutions  were  in  direct  conflict  with  the  opinions  of 
Colonel  Benton,  ofttimes  expressed  during  his  .service,  and 
were  advocated  by  many  of  those  who  were  well-known  oppo- 
nents of  Bf.xtox,  and  then  called  anti-BENTON  Democrats.      A 


112     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

resolution  was  then  passed  requiring  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  to 
be  transmitted  to  the  executive  of  each  State  and  to  each  of  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  from  Missouri,  and  was  approved 
March   lo,  1849. 

They  were  presented  to  the  vSenate  of  the  United  States  by 
Senator  Atchison,  of  Missouri,  on  January'  3,  1850,  and  read 
by  the  Secretary  and  ordered  printed. 

When  read.  Senator  Benton  addressed  the  Senate,  strongly 
opposing  the  principles  and  policies  therein  expressed.  He 
said: 

This  is  the  proper  time  for  me  to  say  what  I  believe  to  be  the  fact,  that 
these  resolutions  do  not  express  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  ^Missouri. 
They  are  a  law-abiding  and  a  Union-loving  people,  and  have  no  idea  of 
entering  into  combinations  to  resist  or  to  intimidate  the  legislation  of 
Congress.  The  general  assembly  has  mistaken  the  sentiment  of  the  State 
in  adopting  these  resolutions,  and  many  members  who  voted  for  them,  and 
the  governor  who  signed  them,  have  since  disavowed  and  repudiated  them. 

Senator  Atchison  said: 

I  have  but  one  word  to  say,  and  that  is  merely  to  express  an  opinion 
that  the  people  of  the  State  of  INIissouri,  when  the  time  arrives,  will  prove 
to  all  mankind  that  every  sentiment  contained  in  these  resolutions,  from 
first  to  last,  will  be  sustained  by  them. 

I  quote  from  the  History  of   Missouri,  by  Col.  William   F. 

Switzler,  one  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  newspaper  editors 

of  the  State,  then  actively  in  politics  and  a  Whig,  who.  in 

writing  of  the  excitement  over  the  passage  of  the  resolutions, 

says: 

The  popular  ferment  was  much  increased  by  the  subsequent  course  of 
Colonel  Benton.  He  opposed  the  resolutions,  appealed  from  the  legisla- 
ture to  the  people,  and  on  the  26th  of  May,  1849,  in  the  hall  of  the  house 
at  Jefferson  City,  opened  a  canvass  against  them  which  set  the  State 
ablaze.  He  maintained  that  the  spirit  of  nullification  and  disunion,  of 
insubordination  to  law,  and  of  trea.son  lurked  in  the  Jack.son  resolutions, 
esj)ecially  in  the  fifth;  that  they  were  a  mere  copy  of  the  Calhoun  resolu- 
tions offered  in  the  United  States  Senate  February  19,  1847,  and  denounced 
by  him  at  the  time  as  firebrands  and  intended  for  disunion  and  electioneer- 
ing purposes. 


S/aliu's  of  T/ioiiins  11.  lieu  Inn  an,/  Francis  P.  IHair.      113 

ric  could  see  no  diflVrciKV  l.t-lwceii  Uk-iii  hut  in  W\k.-  linu-  conU-niplatcd 
for  dissolving  the  Union.  Mr.  Calhoun's  temling  "directly"  and  the  Jack- 
son Missouri  resolutions  "  ultiuiately  "  to  that  point.  He  maintained  they 
were  in  conflict  with  the  :\Iissouri  Compromise  of  1S20  and  with  the  reso- 
lutions passed  by  the  Mi.ssouri  legislature  February  15.  1S47,  wherein  it 
was  declared  that  "the  peace,  permanency,  and  welfare  of  our  National 
Union  depend  upon  a  strict  adherence  to  the  letter  and  spirit"  of  that 
compromise,  also  instructing  our  vSenators  and  Representatives  in  Ccju- 
gress  on  all  questions  which  may  come  before  them  in  relation  to  the 
organization  of  new  Territories  or  States  to  vote  in  accordance  with  its 
provisions.  He  denounced  them  as  entertaining  the  covert  purpose  of 
ultimately  dissolving  the  National  Union  and  of  misleading  the  people  of 
Missouri  into  cooperation  with  the  slaveholding  States  for  that  purpose. 

During  his  extensive  canvass  of  the  State  in  1849  he  deHvered 
inan\-  able  and  exhaustive  speeches,  often  interspersed  with 
bitter  denunciations  and  withering  sarcasm,  being  master  of 
both. 

The  result  was  a  division  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  for 
thirty  years  had  loyally  supported  him,  into  two  factions,  usually 
called  Benton  and  anti-Benton  Democrats,  and  his  defeat  for 
reelection. 

After  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  March  4, 
1853,  to  March  3,  1855,  and  his  defeat  for  reelection  in  1854, 
he  was  the  candidate  of  his  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  for 
governor  in  1856,  and  was  defeated  l)y  Trusten  Polk,  of  the 
anti-Benton  wing.     This  was  his  last  political  campaign. 

He  was  a  close,  laborious,  and  constant  student  from  boy- 
hood to  his  death,  and  acquired  and  possessed  a  greater  fund  of 
information  and  knowledge,  general  and  historical,  than  any 
statesman  of  our  country,  from  which  he  drew  largely  in  his 
discussions  of  all  questions. 

Apace  with  his  increasing  years  he  grew  in  knowledge  and 
foresight  and  in  his  uncomiiromising  devotion  to  what  he  hon- 
estly believed  to  ])e  the  very  best  interests  of  our  connnon 
country  and  the  toiling  millions  of  our  people,  and  was  the 
friend  of  the  people.  P.elieving  he  was  right,  he  never  stopped 
S.  Doc.  456 8 


114     Address  of  Air.  Cockrcll  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

to  count  the  strength  of  the  opposition,  but  moved  to  the  attack 
with  unyielding  determination  and  renewed  force.  General 
Blair  was  selected  to  deliver  the  address  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  Benton  statue  in  vSt.  Louis,  and  said  of  Mr.   Bextox: 

He  not  onlv  admired  and  Ijelieved  in  our  form  of  j^overnmenl,  ijul  he 
was  of  that  Democratic  school  which  insisted  on  restraining  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  exercise  of  its  powers  to  a  strict  and  literal  interpretation  of 
the  Constitution,  not  only  because  they  believed  the  framers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment were  wise  and  saj^acious  men  and  knew  how  to  employ  language 
to  describe  the  powers  which  the)-  sought  to  confer  on  the  Govennnent, 
but  they  were  upon  principle  opposed  to  a  strong  government,  and  sought 
in  every  way  to  limit  its  powers  and  to  make  each  of  the  different  branches 
a  check  upon  the  others.  They  were  profoundly  convinced  that ' '  the  world 
was  governed  too  much,"  and  that  the  best  government  was  .that  which 
least  intermeddled  with  the  affairs  of  the  citizens.  There  never  lived  a 
man  with  more  instinctive  patriotism  than  Benton.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong,  sometimes  of  unruly,  passions,  but  his  paramount  passion  was  love 
of  countr}-. 

He  devoted  to  his  country  the  best  and  ablest  efforts  of  his 
Hfe. 

His  untiring  industr>'  and  close  application  enabled  him  to 
complete  the  two  volumes  of  Thirty  Years  in  the  Ignited  vStates 
Senate,  styled  by  him  "The  Thirty  Years'  View,"  and  .sixteen 
volumes  of  the  Abridgment  of  the  Debates  in  Congress,  from 
1789  to  1856,  both  of  which  are  invaluable  publications  and 
will  be  read  and  referred  to  by  students  and  statesmen  in 
coming  ages.  He  was  strictly  temperate  in  all  his  habil.s — a 
splendid  exemplar  for  the  young  men  of  our  country. 

In     his    autobiographical     .sketch    in     ' '  The    Thirty   Years' 

X'iew,"   referring  to  his  entrance  in  the  Senate,  he  writes: 

From  that  time  his  life  was  in  the  public  eye  and  the  bare  enumeration 
of  the  measures  of  which  he  was  the  author  and  the  prime  mover  would 
be  almost  a  hi.story  of  Congress  legislation.  The  enumeration  is  unneces- 
.sary  here,  the  long  list  is  known  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land — repeated  with  the  familiarity  of  household  words  from  the 
great  cities  on  the  .seaboard  to  the  lonely  cabins  on  the  frontier— and 
.studied  by  the  little  boys,  wlio  feel  an  honorable  ambition  beginning  to 
stir  within  their  bosoms  and  a  laudable  desire  to  learn  something  of  the 
hi.story  of  their  countr)-. 


S/a/urs  ofThouias  11.  /h-/ifon  and  Frai/a's  P.  lUair.      T15 

These  expressions  of  self-adulation  may  be  overlooked  in  a 
statesman  of  his  iniblemished  character  for  intei;rity.  his 
ackno\vled,s;ed  abilities  and  attainments,  and  his  useful,  patri- 
otic, and  illustrious  career;  while  in  men  of  smaller  caliber  they 
would  bL'ConiL-  ridiculous  and  justly  offensive. 

Great  as  he  was,  strong-willed  and  ambitious,  he  could  not 
in  his  younger  days  divest  himself  of  the  influence  of  his  envi- 
ronments and  restrain  his  anger.  He  was  indjued  with  a  fear- 
lessness and  courage,  j^lnsical  and  moral,  never  questioned, 
and  became  involved  in  jK-rsonal  difficulties  about  wdiich  I 
(juote  from  his  autobiography. 

While  ill  the  early  part  of  life  at  Nashville  and  at  vSt.  Louis  duels  and 
affrays  were  common,  and  the  young  BenTON  had  his  share  of  them. 
A  very  violent  affray  between  himself  and  brother  on  one  side  and 
General  Jackson  and  some  friends  on  the  other,  in  which  severe  pistol 
and  dagger  wounds  were  given,  but  fortunately  without  loss  of  life;  and 
the  only  use  for  which  that  violent  collision  now  finds  a  reference  is  in  its 
total  oblivion  by  the  parties  and  the  cordiality  with  which  they  acted 
together  for  the  public  good  in  their  subsequent  long  and  intimate  career. 
A  duel  at  St.  Louis  ended  fatally,  of  which  Colonel  BexTox  has  not  been 
heard  to  speak  except  among  intimate  friends  and  to  tell  of  the  pang 
which  went  through  his  heart  when  he  saw  the  young  man  fall,  and 
would  have  given  the  world  to  see  him  restored  to  life.  As  the  proof  of 
the  manner  in  which  he  looks  upon  all  these  scenes  and  his  desire  to 
bury  all  remembrance  of  them  forever  he  has  had  all  the  papers  burned 
which  relate  to  them,  that  no  future  curiosity  or  industry  should  bring  to 
light  what  he  wishes  had  never  happened. 

Colonel  Bextox  was  married,  after  becoming  Senator,  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Col.  James  McDowell,  of  Rockbridge  County,  Va.,  and  of 
Sarah,  his  wife,  born  vSarah  Preston. 

Of  his  wife  he  says: 

She  was  a  woman  of  singular  merit,  judgment,  elevation  of  character, 
and  regard  for  every  social  duty,  crowned  by  a  life-long  connection  with 
the  church  in  which  she  was  bred— the  Presbyterian  Old  School.  Mrs. 
Benton  died  in  1854,  having  been  struck  with  paralysis  in  1844,  and  from 
that  time  her  hu.sband  was  never  known  Uj  go  to  any  place  of  festivity  or 
anmsement. 


ii6     Address  of  Mr.  CockfcII  oti  tJic  Acceptance  of  the 

Of  his  devotion  to  his  wife  I  quote  from  General  Blair's 
address: 

I  trust  that  I  may  not  be  thought  to  tread  on  ground  too  holy  in 
alluding  to  the  gentle  care,  the  touching  solicitude,  with  which  he 
guarded  the  last  feeble  pulses  of  life  in  her  who  was  the  pride  and  glory 
of  his  young  ambition,  the  sweet  ornament  of  his  mature  fame,  and  best 
love  of  his  ripened  age. 

Full  of  years,  full  of  honors,  this  illustrious  statesman,  on 
April  lo,  1858,  in  this  city,  passed  away  from  the  earthly 
scenes  of  his  combats  and  triumphs  to  life  immortal,  mourned 
b5'  a  nation. 

FRANCIS    PRESTON    BLAIR. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  eminently  proper  that  the  statue  of  Blair 
should  .stand  by  the  side  of  Benton's.  Blair  was  his  most 
trusted  friend  and  delivered  the  address  on  the  occasion  of  the 
unveiling  of  the   .statue  erected  to  his  memory  in  St.   I^ouis. 

Francis  Preston  Blair  was  born  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  on 
the  19th  day  of  February,  182 1,  and  bore  his  father's  honored 
name. 

When  he  was  9  years  old  his  father  removed  from  Lexington, 
Ky.,  to  this  cit}'  to  a.ssume  editorial  control  of  the  Globe  news- 
paper, the  organ  of  President  Jackson's  Administration.  He 
attended  Chapel  Hill  College,  North  Carolina,  and  afterwards 
graduated  from  Princeton  College,  .studied  law  in  this  city,  and 
then  returned  to  Kentucky  and  continued  his  studies  in  the 
office  of  Louis  Marshall.  His  health  failing,  he  \isited  his 
brother,  Montgomery  Blair,  in  St.  Loui.s — afterwards  Postma.s- 
ter-General  under  President  Lincoln — and  then  returned  to 
Kentucky  and  graduated  from  Transylvania  L^niversit)-  law 
school.  He  then  opened  a  law  office  in  St.  Louis  and  there 
ever  after  made  his  home. 

His  health  again  failing,  he  made  a  trip  to  the  Rocky  Moini- 
tains,   and   in   1845  accompanied  Bent  and  St.  Vrain  to  their 


S/a/iu's  o/  Tlioii/as  II.  nnito>i  and  FraJicis  P.  li/a/'r.      wj 

post  ill  New  Mexico,  now  Colorado,  and  was  tliere  when  the 
war  with  Mexico  l)e>^an  and  took  an  active  ]"iart  in  the  niihtary 
operations  nnder  Gen.  vSte]ilien  W.  Kearnw 

On  Ati^^nst  22,  1846,  General  Kearny  issued  his  remarkal)le 
proclamation,  after  having  taken  possession  of  the  cajiital — 
Santa  Fe — of  the  Department  of  New   Mexico  on  Aui,mst    iS. 

On  September  22,  iS4(),  he  i)u])lished  an  "Organic  law  for 
the  Territory  of  New  Mexico,  compiled  under  the  direction  of 
General  Kearny,"  and  on  the  same  day  wrote  to  the  Adjutant- 
General,  saying: 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  stating  that  I  am  entirely  indebted  for  these 
laws  to  Col.  A.  W.  Doniphan,  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Missouri  ^Mounted 
Volunteers,  who  received  much  assistance  from  Private  Willard  P.  Hall, 
of  his  regiment. 

On  the  same  day  he  appointed  a  governor  and  other  officers, 
among  them  "Francis  P.  Blair,  to  l)e  United  States  district 
attorney.'" 

If  he  ever  accepted  the  appointment,  he  only  held  it  for  a 
few  days,  as  Hugh  N.  Smith  was  appointed  to  that  position  on 
October  i,  1846,  and  claims  to  have  acted  for  two  years  and 
four  months,  although  the  offices  of  United  States  district 
attorney  and  marshal  "were  considered  as  abolished  by  in- 
structions from  the  War  Department  bearing  date  January 
II.  1847." 

In  1S47  he  returned  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  married  Miss  Apolline  Alexander,  of  Woodford 
County,  Ky.,  on  September  8,  1847. 

In  1852  he  w-as  elected  a  representative  from  St.  Louis  in  the 
Seventeenth  general  assembly  of  Missouri,  and  was  reelected  in 
1S54,  and  was  again  elected  in  1S70. 

In  1856  he  was  elected  a  Repre.sentative  in  Congress  as  a 
Republican,  and  was  in  1858  a  candidate  for  reelection  and 
was  defeated  b\-  J.  R.  Barrett,  Democrat,  and  contested  Mr. 
Barrett's  election,  and  was  given  the  .seat  June  8,  i860,  by  yeas 


ii8     Address  of  Mr.  CockrcU  on  tlie  Acceptance  of  the 

93,  nays  91,  and  served  until  that  session  of  the  Thirty-sixth 
Congress  adjourned,  June  25,  i860.  FeeHno-  hiniseU"  vindi- 
cated, he  resigned  his  seat  for  the  remainder  of  the  term — 
the  last  session  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress. 

In  the  summer  of  i860,  in  the  election  for  the  remainder  of 
the  term  in  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress  and  for  the  full  term  in 
the  Thirty-.seventh  Congress,  he  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Barrett 
for  the  short  term  and  elected  by  a  large  majority  over  Mr. 
Barrett  for  the  term  in  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  and  was 
reelected  to  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  March  4,  1863,  to 
March  3,  1865.  His  election  was  contested  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Knox,  who  was  on  June  10,  1864,  declared  entitled  to  the 
seat  by  yeas  70,  nays  53,  and  was  sworn  in  and  seated  June 
15.  This  contest  was  pending  in  the  House  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  session. 

When  the  session  began  Blair  was  a  major-general  of  vol- 
unteers in  the  field,  commanding  a  corps,  and  about  the  last 
days  of  October,  1863,  his  brother,  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair, 
con.sulted  President  Lincoln  as  to  his  wishes  whether  General 
Blair  should  take  his  .seat  in  Congress  or  remain  in  the  field. 

On  November  2,  1863,  President  Lincoln  wrote  Hon.  Mont- 
gomery Blair: 

•  My  wish,  then,  is  compounded  of  what  I  believe  will  be  best  for  the 
country  and  best  for  him,  and  it  is  that  he  will  come  here,  put  his  military 
commission  in  my  hands,  take  his  seat,  go  into  caucus  with  our  friends, 
abide  the  nominations,  help  elect  the  nominees,  and  thus  aid  to  organize 
a  House  of  Representatives  which  will  really  support  the  Government  in 
the  war.  If  the  result  shall  be  the  election  of  himself  as  vSpeaker,  let  him 
serve  in  that  position ;  if  not,  let  him  retake  his  commission  and  return  to 
the  Army.  *  *  *  He  is  rising  in  military  skill  and  usefulness.  His 
recent  appointment  to  the  command  of  a  corps  by  one  so  competent  to 
judge  as  General  Sherman  proves  this.  In  that  line  he  can  serve  both  the 
country  and  himself  more  profitably  than  he  could  as  a  member  of  Con- 
gress upon  the  floor.  The  foregoing  is  what  I  would  say  if  Frank  Rl.\ir 
were  my  brother  instead  of  yours. 


Sfa/itcs  of  Thomas  II.  Boitoii  tDui  Traucis  P.  Blaif.      119 

General  Blair,  on  January  i.  1864,  tendered  his  resijj^naticjn 
as  a  major-general,  United  States  Volunteers,  which  was  ac- 
cepted January  i:;,  1864. 

On  March  15,  1864,  President  Lincoln  suggested  to  Lieuten- 
ant-General  Grant  the  assignment  of  General  Blair  to  tlie 
command  of  a  corps.  On  March  30  General  Grant  telegraphed 
General  Sherman:  "Gen.  F.  P.  Blair  will  be  assigned  to  the 
Seventeent.h  Corps,  and  not  the  P'ifteenth. '"  On  .April  9, 
General  Grant  telegraphed  General  Halleck,  chief  of  staff,  to 
ascertain  if  General  Blair  was  to  be  .sent  to  General  Sherman. 

On  Ai)ril  20  General  Blair  wrote  to  Pre.sident  Lincoln  re- 
([uesting  assignment  to  the  conunand  of  the  Seventeenth  Corjis, 
and  on  the  21st  the  President  referred  the  same  to  "  Honorable 
Secretary  of  War:  Please  have  General  Halleck  make  the 
proper  order  in  this  case. ' ' 

On  April  23  General  Blair  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War: 

I  respectfully  request  to  withdraw  my  re.signation  as  major-general  of 
the  United  States  Volunteers,  tendered  on  the  12th  day  of  January,  1864. 

And  President  Lincoln  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  April  23: 

According  to  our  understanding  with  Maj.  Gen.  Fr.\xk  P.  Bl.\ir  at  the 
time  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress  last  winter,  he  now  asks  to  withdraw  his 
resignation  as  major-general,  then  tendered,  and  be  sent  to  the  field.  Let 
this  be  done.  Let  the  order  sending  him  be  such  as  shown  me  to-day  by 
the  Adjutant-General,  only  dropping  from  it  the  names  of  Maguire  and 
Tompkins. 

The  order  assigning  him  to  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps  was 
made  that  day. 

The  records  of  the  War  Department  show  ' '  that  Frank  P. 
Blair  was  mustered  into  .service  to  take  effect  April  26,  1861. 
as  colonel  First  Missouri  Militia,  to  serve  three  years.  This 
regiment  was  reorganized  as  the  First  Missouri  Infantry  \'olun- 
teers,  and  Colonel  Blair  was  mu.stered  into  service  with  the 
regiment  upon  its  reorganization,  June  26,  1861,  to  take  effect 


I20     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrell  on  the  Acceptance  of  tJic 

June  12,  1 86 1,  to  serve  three  years.  After  this  muster  into 
service  as  colonel  for  three  years,  he  repaired  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  Congress  from  the 
State  of  Missouri  July  4,  1861,  and  served  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  House  of  Representatives.  It 
does  not  appear  that  he  thereafter  rejoined  his  regiment,  the 
designation  of  which  was  changed  September  or  October,  1861, 
to  the  First  Regiment  Missouri  Light  Artillery. 

"On  July  4,  1862,  the  Secretary  of  War  authorized  him 
to  organize  a  brigade  of  volunteers,  and  he  was  appointed 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers  August  7,  1862,  and  accepted 
the  appointment  August  21,  1862.  He  was  commissioned 
major-general  of  volunteers  March  13,  1863,  to  rank  from 
November  29,  1862,  and  accepted  the  conunission  April  6, 
1863,  and  was  honorably  discharged  the  service,  to  take  effect 
November  i,  1865,  in  orders  dated  October  28,  1865,  upon 
tender  of  his  resignation. 

"During  the  period  of  his  service  as  brigadier-general  and 
major-general  of  volunteers  he  was  in  command  of  the  First 
Brigade,  Fourth  Division,  Right  Wing,  Thirteenth  Army  Corps, 
of  the  First  Brigade,  First  Division,  Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  of 
the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  and  of  the  Department  of  ]Mis- 
souri,  participating  in  the  siege  of  Vicksbiirg  and  of  Atlanta 
and  in  vSherman's  march  to  the  sea.  A  leave  of  al)scnce  was 
granted  him  September  15,  1864,  and  during  the  remainder  of 
September  and  the  month  of  October,  1864,  he  was  engaged  in 
organizing  the  defenses  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Mo." 

March  14,  1866,  he  was  nominated  b}'  President  Johnson  for 
collector  of  internal  revenue.  First  Mi.s.souri  di.strict,  and  his 
nomination  referred  to  committee  March  16,  1866,  and  reported 
favorably  by  Senator  Fessenden  April  10,  and  rejected  May  4, 
1866 — yeas  8,  nays  21. 


S/.7///rs  of  Thovias  //.  Hen  ton  and  Fnmcis  P.  lUair.      I2i 

On  March  25,  1867,  President  Johnson  sent  his  nomination 
for  minister  to  Austria  to  the  vSenate,  vice  Edj^ar  Cowan, 
rejected.  vSenator  vSnnnier  on  the  same  day  rejiorted  the 
nomination  adversely,  and  it  was  rejected  March  28— yeas  5, 
nays  35. 

He  was  afterwards  appointed  a  connnissioner  of  the  Pacific 
Raihoad,  of  the  construction  of  which  he  had  always  been  an 
able  and  earnest  advocate.  At  the  national  Democratic  con- 
vention at  New  York,  in  the  summer  of  1868,  he  was  nomi- 
nated for  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  on  the  ticket  with 
Governor  Horatio  Seymour  for  President,  and  was  defeated. 
Elected  to  the  general  assembly  of  Mi.s.souri  in  1870,  which  met 
in  1 87 1,  he  was  in  the  same  month  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy 
in  the  United  States  Senate  caused  by  the  resignation  on 
December  13,  1870,  to  take  effect  on  December  19,  1870,  of 
Senator  Charles  D.  Drake,  to  accept  an  api)ointment  to  the 
Court  of  Claims. 

He  was  sworn  in  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  on  January 
25,  187 1,  for  the  unexpired  term  ending  March  3,  1873.  He 
participated  actively  in  behalf  of  Horace  Greeley  for  President 
and  B.  Gratz  Brown  for  Vice-President  in  the  campaign  of 
1872. 

On  November  16,  1872,  he  was  stricken  down  by  paralysis, 
from  which  he  never  recovered. 

Largely,  if  not  entirely,  owing  to  his  stricken  condition  he 
w^as  defeated  for  reelection  to  the  Senate  in  January,  1873. 

There  were  three  distictively  marked  periods  in  the  life  of 
General  Blair  which  make  him  illustrious  for  historic  renown 
and  for  distinguished  civic  .services. 

The  first  period  extends  to  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war, 
the  second  to  the  close  of  that  war,  and  the  third  to  his  death. 

He  was  a   Southern   man   by  birth,  famil\-  connection,   and 


122     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  on  tlic  Acceptance  of  the 

residence;  the  j-oung  friend  of  President  Jackson,  during  whose 
Administration  he  was  of  the  susceptible  and  formative  age, 
and  imbibed  largely  of  his  views  on  national  and  ])()litical  ques- 
tions. He  was  the  friend  of,  and  unfaltering  in  his  devotion 
to,  the  principles  and  policies  of  Benton,  whose  mantle  fell 
upon  his  shoulders — a  Democrat  of  the  Jackson,  Benton,  and 
Van  Buren  .school. 

In  184S,  when  the  "  Wilmot  proviso"  agitated  the  country, 
he  took  a  decided  .stand  in  favor  of  the  free-.soil  movement  and 
against  the  nominees  of  the  Democratic  party  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  opposed  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  argued 
and  labored  to  remove  slavery  from  Missouri. 

He  warmly  espou.sed  the  cause  of  Benton  in  his  appeal  from 
the  Jackson  resolutions  to  the  people,  and  in  1852  was  elected  to 
the  legi.slature  on  the  Benton  ticket.  In  1856  he  was  elected 
to  Congress  as  a  Republican  from  a  slave  State. 

He  fearlessly  maintained  his  opposition  to  slavery  extension 
and  advocacy  of  removing  slavery  from  Missouri,  notwithstand- 
ing the  censure  and  obloquy  attached  to  such  a  course  in  a  slave 
State,  and  establi.shed  a  high  character  for  moral  courage  and 
great  ability. 

His  greatest  prescience  and  force  of  character  were  made 
manifest  when  the  lowering  clotids  of  civil  war  portended  a  dis- 
.solution  of  the  Union.  Equally  with  Jack.son  and  Bknton, 
uncompromising  in  his  devotion  to  the  Union  and  in  oji]X)sition 
to  nullification  or  secession,  he  foresaw  plainly  that  war  was 
inevitable  and  began  preparations  in  advance  of  ho.stilities  and 
organized  the  "Wideawakes"  in  St.  Louis,  and  other  forces. 
He  was  the  soul,  the  will,  the  controlling  power  of  the  Union 
men  in  Mi.ssouri,  determined  at  all  hazards  and  all  risks  that 
Mis,souri  .should  stand  by  the  Union. 

Believing    that    the    vState    administration,    under    C.o\-ernor 


S  fa  furs  of  Thomas  II.  Boifon  aiicf  I-yancis  P.  Blair.      123 

Claiborne  F.  Jackson,  who  had,  as  a  State  senator,  reported 
the  Jackson  resohitions,  was  ainiini^^  to  lead  Missouri  into 
cooperation  willi  the  sececHni;-  Stales,  and  hax'inj;-  llie  (.unfi- 
dence  ot  President  Lincoln,  he  delerniined  to  drixx-  the  admin- 
istration from  the  vState,  and,  as  the  adviser  and  coleader  with 
General  Lyon,  the  United  States  Army  officer  placed  in  com- 
mand throu<5^h  his  influence,  had  United  vStates  forces  marched 
into  Missouri  from  .St.  T^cjuis,  as  the  center,  and  from  Leaven- 
worth, K.ans.,  on  the  west,  and  quickly  occu])ied  the  railroads 
and  the  Missoiui  River.  He  10  a  greater  extent  tlian  any 
other  man  held  Missouri  in  allegiance  to  the  Union  and  caused 
her  to  contibute  to  the  Union  armies  108,773  soldiers  (a  greater 
number  than  an\-  of  the  States  except  Xew  York,  Penns\l\-a- 
nia,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  INIassacluisetts),  as  brave  and 
fearless  as  those  from  any  vState  and  surpassed  by  none. 

Not  only  this,  but  by  the  heroic  movements  he  in.spired 
Missouri  was  prevented  from  cooperation  with  the  .seceding 
States  to  the  full  extent  of  the  sympathy  of  her  people. 

During  the  four  long,  weary  years  of  that  war  of  the  wars  of 
all  the  ages,  when  the  citizen  soldiers  met  each  other  in  fierce 
combat,  wnth  father  against  .son,  brother  again.st  brother,  neigh- 
bor again.st  neighbor,  and  friend  again.st  friend,  all  true  to  their 
honest  convictions,  Blair  never  said  ' '  go, ' '  but  always  ' '  come. " 

He  di.splayed  remarkable  military  abilities  and  skill,  and 
justly  ro.se  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  volunteer  .service,  sur- 
passed by  none  and  equaled  only  by  one — Maj.  Gen.  John  A. 
Logan. 

With  the  clo.se  of  the  war  began  the  third  marked  epoch  in 
General  Blair's  illustrious  career,  during  which  he  di.splayed 
a  moral  courage  and  heroism  equal  to  if  not  greater  than  that 
displayed  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

A  State  convention  as.sembled  in  Jefler.son  City  September  i , 
1863,  and  passed  resolutions  requesting  Governor  Gamble  and 


124     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

Lieutenant-Governor  Hall  to  vacate  their  positions  and  urging 
the  President  to  remove  General  Schofield  from  the  command 
of  the  department,  and  appointed  a  committee  of  seventy  to 
present  their  grievances  to  the  President. 

The  committee  presented  their  address  to  the  President  on 
September  30,  1863,  and  four  supplementary  addresses  on 
October  3.  The  President  replied  on  Octol^er  5.  The 
demands,  as  epitomized  !)>•  the  President  in  his  reply,  were: 

First.  That  General  Schofield  should  be  relieved  and  General  Butler  be 
appointed  as  commander  of  the  military  department  of  Missouri. 

Second.  That  the  sj-stem  of  enrolled  militia  in  Missouri  should  be 
broken  up  and  national  forces  substituted  for  it. 

Third.  That  at  elections  persons  might  not  be  allowed  to  vole  who 
were  not  entitled  by  law  to  do  so. 

The  President's  reply  shows  clearh"  the  conditions  then  and 
-sulxsequently  existing  in  Missouri.     He  said: 

We  are  in  civil  war.  In  such  cases  there  always  is  a  main  question; 
Ijut  in  this  case  that  question  is  a  perplexing  compound — Union  and 
slavery.  It  thus  becomes  a  question  not  of  two  sides  merel}-,  but  of  at 
least  four  sides,  even  among  those  who  are  for  the  Union,  saying  nothing 
of  those  who  are  again.st  it.  Thus,  those  who  are  for  the  Union  wUJi  but 
not  zait/iout  s\a\ery,  those  for  it  without  but  not  zviih,  those  for  it  wil/i  or 
without  but  prefer  it  luith,  and  those  for  it  with  or  witlwut  but  prefer  it 
tvii/iout.  Among  these,  again,  is  a  subdivision  of  those  who  are  for 
gradual  but  not  for  itniiiediafe,  and  those  who  are  for  i  in  mediate  but 
not  ior  gradual  extinction  of  slavery. 

It  is  eas3'  to  conceive  that  all  these  shades  of  opinion,  and  even  more, 
may  be  sincerely  entertained  by  honest  and  truthful  men.  Yet  all  being 
for  the  Union,  by  reason  of  these  differences  each  will  prefer  a  different 
way  of  sustaining  the  Union.  At  once  sincerity  is  questioned  and  motives 
assailed.  Actual  war  coming,  blood  grows  hot  and  blood  is  spilled. 
Thought  is  forced  from  old  channels  into  confusion.  Deception  breeds 
and  thrives.  Confidence  dies,  and  universal  suspicion  reigns.  Each  man 
feels  an  impulse  to  kill  his  neighbor  lest  he  be  killed  by  him.  Revenge 
and  retaliation  follow.  And  all  this,  as  before  .said,  may  be  among  honest 
men  only.  But  this  is  not  all.  Every. foul  bird  comes  abroad,  and  every 
dirty  reptile  ri.ses  up.  These  add  crime  to  confusion.  Strong  measures, 
deemed  indispensable  but  harsh  at  best,  such  men  make  worse  by  malad- 
ministration.     JNIurders  for  old  grudges    and   nuirders  for  i)eir  proceed 


S/n/itcs  of  yyiOD/as  II.  Boil  on  and  IliDicis  I\  Hlair.      125 

uinlcr  any  cloak  that  will  hcsl  cover  for  Uu-  occasion.  Tlicsi-  causes 
amply  account  for  what  has  occurred  in  Missouri,  without  ascrihinj^  it  to 
the  weakness  or  wickedness  of  any  j^eneral. 

The  President  refused  the  first  and  second  demands  and  con- 
curred in  the  third.  The  iMtterness  and  contentions  among  the 
Union  men,  cHvided  into  Conservatives  and  Radicals,  stihse- 
(juentlN- called  Democrats  and  Rei)ul)licans,  increased.  So,  also, 
l)et\veen  the  Union  and  Southern  men.  On  January  6,  1865,  a 
State  constitutional  convention  assemliled  in  St.  Louis,  adopted 
an  ordinance  abolishing  slavery  in  Mis.souri,  which  as  a  prac- 
tical fact  had  cea.sed  to  exist  for  .some  time  previous,  and 
adopted  a  con.stitution  to  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people 
on  Jtine  6,  1865,  for  adoption  or  rejection,  which  was  adopted 
by  43,670  votes  for  to  41,808  again.st  it;  majority,  1,862.  The 
convention  adjourned  April  10,  1S65. 

This  constitution  by  proclamation  of  the  governor  took  effect 
July  4,  1S65,  was  called  the  Drake  constitution,  from  Hon. 
Charles  D.  Drake,  vice-president  of  the  convention,  and  its 
reputed  author. 

It  contained  the  most  stringent  and  proscriptive  provisions 
in  regard  to  the  test  oaths  required  of  voters — persons  capable 
of  holding  any  office  or  position  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit,  State, 
corporate,  nuuiicipal,  institutional,  or  fiduciary,  and  of  attor- 
neys, and  teachers  in  our  schools,  male  and  female,  and  even 
ministers  of  the  gospel  of  peace  and  good  will. 

General  Blair  took  a  bold  and  fearless  stand  against  such 
measures  and  all  proscription,  refused  to  take  the  oath  in  order 
to  vote,  and  brought  suit  in  the  courts  to  test  his  right.  With 
General  Blaik  the  Union  was  the  main  qtiestion.  When  the 
Union  arms  had  triumphed,  an  indi.s.soluble  Union  of  inde- 
structible States  had  been  secured,  secession  with  slavery  and 
all  opposition  to  the  Union   had  been   forever  buried  in   the 


126     Address  of  Mr.  Cockrcll  on  the  Acceptaiice  of  the 

grave  of  the  dead  Confederacy  beyond  resurrection,  and  our 
old  flag  waved  in  honor,  glory,  and  power  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  and  from  the  Lalces  to  the  Gulf,  every  tongue  con- 
fessing and  ever}-  knee  bowing  to  its  peaceful  and  rightful 
sway.  General  Blair  l)elieved  that  humanity,  Christianit>-, 
the  wisest  statesmanship,  as  well  as  the  very  best  interests 
of  our  common  country,  demanded  peace,  reconciliation,  and 
fraternity,  that  the  wounds  and  bruises  of  the  war  might  be 
healed,  its  wastes  and  devastations  repaired,  and  our  people. 
North  and  South,  East  and  West,  become  one  people,  citizens 
of  our  common  country  in  fact  as  in  law,  with  like  sympathies, 
feelings,  aspirations,  interests,  and  rights.  He  did  not  believe 
that  proscription  was  the  proper  method  to  such  ends. 

He  warmly  supported  General  Grant's  intercession  in  behalf 
of  General  Lee  and  other  paroled  Confederate  officers  and 
soldiers  on  the  ground  that  their  paroles,  so  long  as  they 
obeyed  the  laws,  protected  them  from  arrest  and  trial. 

General  Blair's  efforts  to  restore  to  the  proscribed  people  of 
Missouri  equal  rights  of  citizenship  were  equally  as  heroic  and 
fearless  as  were  his  efforts  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Union 
and  to  overthrow  all  opposition  to  it. 

So  inten.se  and  embittered  were  the  feelings  of  the  extreme 
radical  element  in  many  counties  that  freedom  of  public  dis- 
cussion did  not  exist,  and  public  meetings  were  broken  up  and 
threats  made  that  no  Democrat  should  address  them. 

General  Blaik,  in  the  early  summer  of  1866,  made  a  series 
of  .speeches  in  many  different  counties  in  Mis.souri.  At  many 
places  efforts  were  made  to  break  up  his  meetings  and  prevent 
him  speaking  and  even  to  take  him  from  the  stand.  He  never 
quailed  nor  flinched,  but  boldly  and  defiantly  denounced  those 
creating  the  disturbances  in  the  bitterest  and  mo.st  withering 
terms,  and  never  failed  to  speak  as  long  as  he  chose  and  to  .say 


S/(7//u's  of  TJiomas  II.  Ben  Ion  and  Francis  P.  P,lair.      127 

whatever  he  iileased,  and  l)y  these  efTorts  reiiuned  every  hin- 
drance to  the  utmost  freedom  of  jnibHc  discussion  ever  there- 
after. I  refer  to  these  incidents  in  his  ilhistrious  hfe  to  show 
his  heroic  and  conra^eous  nature  and  his  uncompromising^ 
devotion  to  what  he  l)eHeved  to  be  ri.<;ht,  and  not  to  revive  the 
dead  embers  of  hate  and  bitterness  engendered  b\-  tliat  fratri- 
cidal war.  for  "anathema  maranatha"  be  to  him  who  would 
rekindle  the  dead  eml)ers  of  hate  and  sectional  animosities. 

In  addressing  a  large  public  audience  in  Memjihis,  Tenn.,  on 
September  20,  1866,  General  Blair  said: 

The  utmost  freedom  of  public  discussion  is  the  rock  upon  which  all 
true  liberty  is  founded.  If  that  great  bulwark  is  overthrown,  or  if  public 
speakers  seek  only  to  express  such  views  as  are  in  accordance  with  public 
sentiment,  the  way  is  thrown  wide  open  to  the  destruction  of  every  guar- 
anty of  freedom.  Hence  I  regard  it  as  unworthy  of  myself  and  especially 
dishonoring  to  you  to  attempt  an  apology  for  anything  I  may  advance 
because  it  may  not  meet  your  concurrence. 

General  Bl.-\iR  was  a  dutiful  son,  a  loving,  faithful  husband, 
a  kind  and  affectionate  father,  a  true,  .steadfast  friend,  generous 
to  a  fault  and  often  to  his  pecuniary  loss,  genial  and  attractive 
in  his  per.sonality,  forceful  and  impressive  as  a  speaker,  per- 
.sonally  and  officially  honest  and  incorruptible,  without  even 
the  suspicion  of  a  stain  upon  his  integrity. 

He  was  open,  frank,  bold,  and  aggressive  in  the  ex]^ression 
of  his  views  and  the  advocacy  of  his  principles,  whether  popular 
or  obnoxious  at  the  time,  and  yet  .so  tempered  them  with  geni- 
ality and  magnanimity  that  few  could  keep  from  admiring  liim 
and  few  indeed  were  his  personal  enemies. 

The  good  people  of  Missouri  have  erected  a  pure  standard 
bronze  statue  of  General  Blair  in  Forest  Park,  St.  Louis,  of 
heroic  size,  to  perpetuate  the  remend^rance  and  appreciation  of 
his  great  abilities  and  his  distinguished  services  to  our  connnon 
country  and  to  his  adopted  State. 


128     Address  of  Mi'-.  Cocky  ell  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

I  quote  from  the  address  of  Rev.  Dr.  T.  M.  Post  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  unveihng  of  that  statue: 

Happy  is  it  when,  from  an  heroic  grave,  there  is  an  outlook  to  the  land 
immortal,  and  loyalty  to  country  is  consummated  in  loyalty  to  God  —happy 
for  our  personal  love  and  for  our  hope  for  our  country.  We  believe  a 
truth  from  a  higher  world  came  to  our  friend  in  that  solemn,  serene,  and 
utterly  real  realm  that  la}-,  through  months  and  seasons,  before  the  open 
gates  of  the  Everlasting;  that  in  those  solemn  hours  when  time's  shadows 
flee  away  and  its  pomp  and  pride  are  but  pageants  of  a  passing  dream  voices 
came  to  him  from  out  eternit}-  and  the  Highest  revealed  Himself,  and 
that  the  lesson  and  confession  of  allegiance  to  the  Eternal  One  came  in 
to  correct  and  consummate  the  utterances  of  his  life.  That  lesson  and 
confession  are  among  the  things  that  shall  not  pass  away.  The  heroic 
form  typed  by  yonder  statue  years  ago  crumbled  into  dust,  the  bronze 
and  the  granite  shall  in  time  follow;  but  this  last  utterance  is  above  and 
beyond  change,  a  truth  and  a  force  which,  we  trust,  shall  blend  with  the 
destinies  of  this  nation  forever. 


S/a/nc's  of  Thomas  II.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     129 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HOAR,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 
Mr  President,  it  is  hardly  necessary,  after  the  wonderfully 
eloquent  and  ample  tribute  in  memory  of  these  two  sons  of 
Missouri,  that  atn-  other  ^•oice  should  be  heard.  I  have  been 
asked,  however,  because,  as  I  suppose,  I  represent  in  part  that 
section  of  the  Union  farthest  in  situation  and  farthest  in  opunon 
fron.  the  people  whom  Bexton  loved  and  served,  to  say  a  few 
words  in  support  of  the  resolution,  and  especially  with  reference 

to  him.  ..  ,     1       t 

The  statute  of  1862  which  sets  apart  the  beautiful  chamber 
in  the  Capitol  as  a  gallery  for  the  statues  of  famous  citizens 
leaves  the  selection  to  the  absolute  discretion  of  the  States. 
But  the  whole  country  approves  the  choice  of  Missouri. 

The  whole  country  remembers  freshly  the  great  career,  the 
chivalrous  character,  the  dauntless  spirit  of  Blair.  But  when 
the  fi-ure  of  Benton  is  unveiled  the  genius  of  Missoun- 
rather""  the  genius  of  the  We.st-has  come.  He  is  to  stand 
among  his  peers,  the  representative,  the  embodiment,  of  a 
great  history.  He  remembered  the  men  of  the  Revolution. 
He  was  born  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution  ended.  He 
lived  to  greet  Charles  Sumner  when  he  came  into  the  Senate, 
to  survive  all  the  great  leaders  of  the  time  before  the  war.  and 
to  see  the  sure  signs  of  the  coming  conflict  of  arms  between 
freedom  and  slavery. 

Missouri  did  well  that  she  waited  nearly  half  a  century  after 
his  death  before  electing  him  to  the  greater  and  perpetual 
Senate,  which  is  to  sit  forever  in  yonder  chamber.  It  would 
be  well  if  this  example  were  always  followed.  No  party  spirit, 
no  influence  of  friendship,  no  mere  personal  gratitude,  no  tem- 
porary or  fleeting  popularity  has  influenced  the  choice.  We 
S.  Doc.  456 9 


130      Address  of  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

know  now  what  manner  of  man  Missouri,  by  her  dehberate 
choice,  delighteth  to  honor  and  what  manner  of  man  the  Amer- 
ican people  dehght  to  honor. 

Thomas  H.  Benton  was  a  sturdy  and  courageous  champion. 
He  iniderstood,  as  no  other  man  ever  understood,  the  interest 
of  the  great  West.  He  is,  beyond  all  question,  without  com- 
petitor or  rival  down  to  this  moment,  the  foremost  statesman 
of  the  States  beyond  the  Mississippi.  From  1820  to  1850  he 
was  one  of  the  four  great  leaders  of  the  Senate.  If  in  some 
special  quality  he  was  surpassed  by  each  of  the  great  trium- 
virate—  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun  —  yet  neither  of  these  men. 
perhaps  not  all  together,  exerted  so  powerful  an  influence  upon 
the  action  of  the  Senate  or  of  the  people  during  that  time.  He 
was  industrious,  wasting  no  moment  of  time;  earnest  and  inde- 
fatigable, pressing  like  a  steel  spring  upon  the  armor  of  his 
opponent;  trying  every  joint;  sure  to  find  the  weak  .spot; 
untiring;  courageous,  never  shrinking  or  flinching  from  the 
face  of  any  antagonist;  unselfish,  striving  for  the  public  good 
as  he  understood  it;  loving  his  people,  loving  his  State  and 
section  and  country,  with  a  supreme  and  most  disinterested  love. 

The  statesman  or  the  student  of  history  to-day  can  investi- 
gate few  subjects  which  interested  the  people  during  the  first 
seventy  years  of  our  history  under  the  Constitution  without 
coming  upon  the  work  of  Benton.  By  three  or  four  things, 
however,  he  is  specially  known  to  his  countr5anen  and  will 
keep  his  place  in  their  undying  memory.  One  is  his  passionate 
personal  attachment  and  devotion  to  Andrew  Jackson.  Another 
is  his  belief  in  a  money  of  intrinsic  value,  gold  and  silver,  and 
his  utter  detestation  and  contempt  for  any  substitute  of  paper 
or  credit.  Another  is  his  attachment  to  the  union  of  the 
States,  an  attachment  which  no  party  feeling,  no. feeling  as  a 
Southern    man,   ever    for    a    moment   weakened    or    impaired. 


Sfa/iu'S  ofTho))ias  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      131 

Another  was  his  brave  resistance  in  his  early  hfe  to  the  threat 
intellectual  champions  who  were  arrayed  against  him  in  the 
Senate;  and  a  resistance,  braver  still,  in  his  old  age,  to  the 
currents  of  popular  delirium  which  swept  away  his  own  vState 
and  his  own  party  into  the  attempt  to  extend  slavery,  and  what 
he  deemed  a  wicked  and  unconstitutional  war  against  Mexico. 
He  was  eminently  a  man  of  the  people.  He  liked  popular 
applause.  He  was  a  man  of  intense  party  spirit.  Yet  he  was 
able  to  stand  alone.  He  had  his  foibles,  to  which  his  distin- 
guished successor  [Mr.  Vest]  has  so  well  alluded;  but,  after 
all,  there  was  never  an  American  citizen  to  whom  that  tribute 
of  the  Latin  poet,  often  quoted,  but  which  we  may  well  repeat, 
would  better  apply: 

' '  Justam  ac  tenacem  propositi  virum 
Non  civivim  ardor  prava  jitbentium 
J  Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 

jVIente  quatit  solida,  neque  Auster, 
Dux  iiiquieti  turbidus  Hadriie, 
Nee  Fulminantis  magna  nianus  Jovis; 
Si  fractus  illabatur  orbis, 
Impavidum  ferient  ruinae." 

' '  Integer  vitae  scelerisque  purus. ' ' 

"  Cui  Pudor,  et  Justitise  soror, 
Incorrupta  Fides,  nudaque  Veritas 
Quando  ulluni  inveniet  pareni?" 

He  loved  Missouri.  He  loved  the  West.  He  loved  the 
South.  From  his  coming  into  public  life — indeed,  from  his 
first  coming  to  manhood — there  was  scarcely  a  pulsation  of 
the  popular  Western  heart  which  he  did  not  share.  Yet  when 
the  time  came  for  him  to  choose  between  office,  party,  his  State, 
popularity,  the  love  of  old  friends  and  companions,  influence, 
power,  the  master  passions  of  his  soul,  as  it  seemed,  on  the  one 
hand,   and   freedom   and  country  upon   the  other,   he   did   not 


132       Address  of  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

hesitate  in  the  choice.  His  latest  biographer,  Governor  Roose- 
velt, describes  the  conditions  that  confronted  Benton  when  the 
decline  of  his  life  came  on.  Benton  had  resisted  what  to  most 
men  in  a  republic  is  irresistible — the  pa.s.sions  excited  by  a  great 
war,  the  stirring  and  excited  appeals  to  the  love  of  the  flag,  the 
Anglo-Saxon  greed  for  empire,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  a  party 
of  which  he  had  been,  for  more  than  a  generation,  the  greate.st 
leader  in  the  State  of  which  he  was  the  brightest  ornament  and 
foremost  citizen. 

Governor  Roosevelt,  writing  in  1895,  a  little  more  than  four 
years  ago,  described  the  public  feeling  which  Mr.  Benton  had 
to  encounter,  and  gives  due  praise  to  the  loft\'  and  noble 
courage  with  which  he  encountered  it.     He  sa^-s: 

The  man  of  the  West  stood  where  he  was  because  he  was  a  conqueror; 
he  had  wrested  his  land  by  force  from  its  rightful  Indian  lords;  he  fully 
intended  to  repeat  the  same  feat  as  soon  as  he  should  reach  the  Spanish 
lands  Ij-ing  to  the  west  and  southwest;  he  would  have  done  so  in  the 
case  of  French  Louisiana  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  latter  was  pur- 
chased and  was  thus  saved  from  being  taken  by  force  of  arms.  This 
belligerent  or,  more  properly  speaking,  piratical  way  of  looking  at  neigh- 
boring territory  was  ver\'  characteristic  of  the  West  and  was  at  the  root 
of  the  doctrine  of  "manifest  destiny." 

Governor  Roosevelt  goes  on: 

The  general  feeling  in  the  West  upon  this  last  subject  afterwards 
crystallized  into  what  became  known  as  the  "manifest  destiu}- "  idea, 
which,  reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  was  that  it  was  our  manifest  destiny 
to  swallow  up  the  land  of  all  adjoining  nations  who  were  too  weak  to 
•withstand  us;  a  theory  that  forthwith  obtained  immense  popularity 
among  all  statesmen  of  easy  international  morality. 

Governor  Roosevelt  states  Mr.  Benton's  doctrine  upon  this 

question,  and  the  doctrine  oF  the  conscience  and  moralitx-  of  cue 

American  people  of  that  day,  as  follows: 

Of  course  no  one  would  wish  to  see  these,  or  any  other  settled  communi- 
ties, now  added  to  our  domain  by  force;  we  want  no  unwilling  citizens  to 
enter  our  Union;  the  time  to  have  taken  the  lands  was  before  .settlers  came 
into  them.  European  nations  war  for  the  pos.session  of  thickly  settled  dis- 
tricts, which,  if  conquered,  will  for  centuries  remain  alien  and  ho.stilc  to 
the  conquerors;  we,  wiser  in  our  generation,  have  seized  the  waste  soli- 
tudes that  lay  near  us,  the  limitless  forests  and  never-ending  plains,  and 


Sta flics  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.      133 

the  valleys  of  the  s^reat,  lonely  rivers,  and  have  thrust  our  own  sons  into 
them  to  take  possession;  and  a  score  of  years  after  each  conquest  we  see 
the  conciuered  land  teeniintf  with  a  people  that  is  one  with  ourselves. 

Governor  Roosevelt  states  this  issue  between  imperialism,  or, 

as  he  terms  it,  "the  piratical  way  of  looking  at  neighboring 

territory  by  statesmen  of  easy  international  morality,"  on  the 

one  side,  and  Reptiblicanism  on  the  other,   as  represented  by 

Mr.  Clav  on  the  one  hand  and   Mr.  Polk  on  the  other.     He 


Almost  every  good  element  in  the  country  stood  behind  Clay;  the  vast 
majority  of  intelligent,  high-minded,  upright  men  supported  him. 

He  adds: 

Three  men— Calhoun,  Birney,  and  Isaiah  Rynders— may  be  taken  as 
types  of  the  classes  that  were  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  election  of 
Polk,  and  that  must  therefore  bear  the  responsibility  for  all  the  evils 
attendant  thereon,  including  among  them  the  bloody  and  unrighteous 
war  with  Mexico. 

The  worthy  biographer  qttotes,  with  emphatic  approbation, 

Benton's  indignant  denunciation,  when  the  Mexican  war  was 

approaching,  of  the  want  of  manliness  in  our  treatment  of  a 

weak  republic.     He  says: 

Would  we  take  2,000  miles  of  Canada  in  the  same  way?  I  presume 
not.  And  why  not?  Why  not  treat  Great  Britain  and  Mexico  alike? 
Why  not  march  up  to  "  fifty -four-forty  ' '  as  courageously  as  we  marched 
upon  the  Rio  Grande?  Because  Great  Britain  is  powerful  and  Mexico  is 
weak,  a  reason  which  may  fail  in  policy  as  much  as  in  morals. 

Mr.  Benton  himself  adds  upon  this  subject: 

I  am  against  all  disguise  and  artifice,  against  all  pretexts,  and  espe- 
cially weak  and  groundless  pretexts,  discreditable  to  ourselves  and  offen- 
sive to  others;  too  thin  and  shallow  not  to  be  seen  through  by  every 
beholder,  and  merely  invented  to  cover  unworthy  purposes. 

Governor  Roo.sevelt  speaks  of  this  period  of  Benton's  life 

with  zealous  and  eloquent  approbation.      He  says: 

He  had  now  entered  on  what  may  be  fairly  called  the  heroic  part  of  his 
career;  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  choose  any  other  word  to  express  our 
admiration  for  the  unflinching  and  defiant  courage  with  which,  supported 
only  by  conscience  and  by  his  loving  loyalty  to  the  Union,  he  battled  for 
the  losing  side,  although  by  so  doing  he  jeopardized  and  eventually  ruined 


134       Addj^ess  of  Mr.  Hoar  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

his  political  prospects,  being  finally,  as  punishment  for  his  boldness  in 
opposing  the  dominant  faction  of  the  Missouri  Democracy,  turned  out  of 
the  Senate,  wherein  he  had  passed  nearly  half  his  life.  Indeed,  he  was 
one  of  those  natures  that  show  better  in  defeat  than  in  victory. 

Mr.  Benton's  opposition  to  the  Mexican  war  was  followed 

by  his  opposition  after  it  ended  to  any  form  of  the  extension 

of  slavery,  which  he  declared  he  deemed  an  evil  and  "  would 

neither  adopt  it  nor  impose  it  on  others." 

\\'hen  the  fugitive-slave  act  of  1S50  was  passed,  through  the  help  of  some 
Northern  votes,  Benton  refused  to  .support  it;  and  this  was  the  last  act  of 
importance  that  he  performed  as  a  United  States  Senator.  He  had  risen 
and  grown  steadih-  all  through  his  long  term  of  service;  and  during  its 
last  period  he  did  greater  service  to  the  nation  than  any  of  his  fellow- 
Senators.  *  *  *  He  alwaj's  rose  to  meet  a  really  great  emergency;  he 
kept  doing  continually  better  work  throughout  his  term  of  public  service, 
or  showed  himself  able  to  rise  to  a  higher  level  at  the  very  end  than  at  the 
beginning. 

This  is  the  character,  Mr.  President,  which  the  great  State  of 
Missouri,  speaking  through  her  governor  and  honored  Senators, 
gives  to  the  American  people  to-da}',  in  this  time  of  her  sober 
second  thought,  as  the  best  she  has  to  offer.  If  it  be  the  best 
she  have  to  offer,  no  other  State  surely  has  anything  better. 
We  are  lively  to  receive  nothing  better  from  any  quarter.  Cer- 
tainly Massachusetts  feels  herself  and  her  great  children  of  the 
days  of  the  Puritan  and  the  days  of  the  Revolution  honored  by 
the  companionship.  Sam  Adams,  if  need  lie,  will  draw  a 
thought  more  nigh  to  John  Winthrop  to  make  room  for  him. 
Webster  will  greet  his  old  antagonist.  The  marble  lips  of 
Charles  Sumner,  whom  Benton  welcomed  in  the  Senate  in 
1 85 1,  will  return  the  greeting  now  from  yonder  stately  ante- 
chamber. The  old  strifes  are  forgotten.  The  old  differences 
have  vanished.  But  the  love  of  liberty,  the  love  of  justice,  the 
love  of  national  honor,  the  spirit  that  prizes  liberty  and  justice 
and  honor  above  gain  or  trade  or  empire — the  spirit  of  this 
great  statesman  of  the  West — abides  and  shall  abide  forever 
inore. 


Sta/ucs  of  Thomas  //.  Doiton  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     135 


ADDRESS  OF  Mr.  ELKINS,  OF  WEST  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  President,  reared  and  educated  in  Missouri,  I  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  everything  which  concerns  that  great  Common- 
wealth. Added  to  this,  because  of  my  father's  great  loyalty 
to  and  admiration  for  Mr.  Benton  I  wear  his  honored  name. 
I  feel,  partly  for  this  reason  and  others,  that  I  can  not  allow 
this  occasion  which  helps  perpetuate  his  fame  to  pass  without 
a  word  from  me. 

I  will  have  but  little  to  say  about  his  life  and  public  ser\-ices, 
because  they  have  been  dwelt  upon  in  the  elot[uent  speeches  of 
the  honored  vSenators  from  Missouri  just  pronounced  in  the 
Senate. 

No  man  ever  dominated  a  political  party  more  than  Mr. 
Benton  did  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State  of  Missouri 
from  1820  to  1850.  His  hold  was  so  great  on  the  Democrats 
of  that  State  during  this  period  that  he  hardly  asked  to  be 
reelected  to  his  high  oflQce — his  party  thrust  his  election  upon 
him.  Once  in  two  or  three  years  he  made  what  might  be 
called  Benton's  triumphal  progress  through  the  vState,  and 
told  the  multitudes  who  came  out  to  greet  him  and  hear  him 
speak  what  "I,  Thomas  H.  Benton,"  had  done  as  their 
pubhc  ser\-ant  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  for  the 
State  of  Missouri  and  the  whole  country. 

Benton's  greatest  weakness  was  his  vanity  and  egoti.sm,  so 
seldom  united  with  genuine  ability  and  merit.  But  in  Benton 
this  weakness  was  pardonable  and  forgotten,  becau.se  it  laid 
alongside  so  much  merit  and  virtue,  such  great  integrity,  loy- 
alty, and  unselfi.sh  devotion  to  his  country  and  its  1:)est  interests. 
Listening  to  his  speeches  on  the  hustings  and  remembering 
the  great  services  he  had  rendered  his  State  and  the  country, 


136     Address  of  Mr.  Elkins  on  the  Acceptance  0/  the 

people  forgot  his  vanity,  although  he  constantly  referred  to 
himself  and  what  he  had  accomplished.  In  his  "Thirty  Years' 
View" — the  best  political  history  of  that  period  ever  written — 
he  never  fails  to  make  mention  of  what  Mr.  Bentox  did  and 
give  him  the  fullest  credit. 

He  was  not  the  equal  of  Cla}'  as  an  orator,  nor  of  Webster  as 
a  constitutional  lawyer,  but  he  was  greater  than  either  in  being 
a  many-sided  statesman,  in  understanding  the  wants  and  needs 
of  the  whole  country,  especially  those  of  the  West.  Xo  states- 
man during  his  time  or  since  has  had  as  clear  a  conception  of 
the  possibilities  of  the  great  West  beyond  the  Mississippi  River, 
and  especially  that  part  which  came  to  us  by  the  treaty  of 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo,  as  Benton.  It  is  a  historic  fact  that 
Webster  denounced  as  worthless  the  vast  territory  that  came 
to  us  through  this  treaty.  He  said  it  never  would  be  useful, 
could  not  su.stain  population,  and  would  be  a  burden  to  the 
General  Government;  while  Benton  foresaw  and  foretold  in 
the  most  accurate  way  its  future.  Webster's  vision  did  not 
extend  much  beyond  the  Mi.ssissippi;  he  could  not  see  as  far  as 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

Benton  not  onlj-  saw  the  Pacific,  advocated  a  Pacific  rail- 
road, and  said  it  would  be  built  one  day,  but  he  saw  with  an 
unerring  eye  the  road  to  the  Orient,  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific 
and  our  trade  with  Asia,  which  is  just  beginning.  The  mighty 
events  that  are  .so  rapidly  crowding  upon  us  are  verifying  his 
prophecies  as  to  the  possibilities  of  trade  and  commerce  with 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific  and  the  Orient.  Xo  American  states- 
man ever  advocated  and  proposed  .so  man}-  public  measures 
that  were  beneficial  and  affected  the  welfare  and  destiny  of  the 
whole  country  as  Benton. 

He  was  the  be.st-informed  man  of  his  time  on  questions  grow- 
ing out  of  the  public  lands,  Indian  affairs,  and  mines.     This 


S/(J/iWS  of  Thomas  II.  Iniitoii  and  Francis  P.  lUair.      137 

was  not  altoi^ether  due  to  his  ability  and  persevering  industry, 
hut  he  enjoyetl  the  advantage  over  other  statesmen  of  livinj^ 
beyond  the  Mississippi  and  learned  lessons  of  wisdom  from  the 
trappers,  miners,  and  pathfinders  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  who 
made  frequent  visits  to  St.  Louis  from  the  West  as  far  as 
Oregon.  He  was  acquainted  with  all  these  daring  and  adven- 
turous spirits,  among  them  the  Asters,  who  told  him  of  the 
wealth  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  climate  and  soil  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  now  occupied  by  prosperous  States.  He  not  only 
understood  the  West,  but  favored  all  measures  looking  to  its 
development. 

Twenty  years  after  Bkntox's  proj^hecy  that  a  Pacific  rail- 
road would  be  built  across  the  continent  uniting  the  two  oceans, 
even  General  vSherman  doubted  that  it  would  ever  be  accom- 
plished, and,  with  all  his  knowledge  of  the  West,  said  a  Pacific 
railroad  was  impracticable. 

Though  a  Southern  man,  Benton  persistently  opposed  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  the  Territories,  and  in  the  early  talks 
about  secession  and  the  mutterings  of  discontent  on  the  part  of 
slaveholders  and  nullifiers  and  threats  of  the  dissolution  of  tlie 
Union,  Benton  stood  like  a  stone  wall  against  all  these  evil 
and  pernicious  things. 

He  was  the  la.st  link  t)etween  the  makers  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  present  era;  he  reached  from  Jefferson  to  Sunmer. 
An  incessant  worker,  tireless  and  persistent,  he  never  gave  up 
a  purpose  when  adopted  after  mature  consideration.  He  was 
so  sensitive  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties  that  he  would 
not  appoint  a  relative  to  office,  no  matter  how  great  his  merit 
and  qualifications. 

When  elected  to  the  Senate  he  was  the  leading  lawyer  of  St. 
Louis,  and  engaged  in  the  heaviest  litigation  in  the  State, 
notably  that  growing  out  of  the  i)ul)lic  lands  and  grants  of  land 
S.  Doc.  456 10 


138     Address  of  Mr.  El  kins  on  the  Acceptance  of  the 

made  by  France,  which  was  the  most  important  and  paid  the 
best  fees.  After  his  election  to  the  Senate  he  called  .his  clients 
together  and  gave  up  all  his  land  cases,  stating  that  their 
interests  might  conflict  with  those  of  the  General  Government 
and  his  duty  as  a  Senator.  He  did  this  when  to  have  con- 
tinued as  attorney  would  have  made  him  a  rich  man  for  those 
times.  He  not  onlj-  gave  up  these  cases,  but  refused  to  name 
any  lawyer  to  take  charge  of  them. 

Benton  stood  for  sound  money  and  the  faithful  performance 
of  all  national  obligations.  He  favored  a  liberal  distribution 
of  the  public  lands  and  selling  them  to  actual  settlers  at  a  very 
low  price.  Although  tltis  policy  was  .strongh'  oppo.sed  by  the 
Eastern  States,  yet  after  a  struggle  covering  many  3'ears  he 
secured  its  adoption.  He  was  the  author  of  the  preemption 
system. 

When  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Jacksonian  Democrats  in  the 
Senate  he  opposed  the  spoils  system  and  favored  the  merit 
sj^stem. 

As  a  Senator  Benton  never  could  be  swerved  from  his 
public  duty  as  he  understood  it.  He  lived  up  to  his  convic- 
tions and  voted  according  to  the  lights  before  him  and  his  best 
judgment,  without  regard  to  the  conseqtiences  to  himself. 
With  him  personal  appeals  again.st  duty  fell  upon  deaf  ears. 
His  patriotism  was  as  broad  as  the  Union  and  knew^  no  .section. 
While  he  stood  for  the  whole  country,  he  always  supported  and 
defended  the  We.st  and  Western  interests.  Better  than  any 
statesman  of  his  time  he  luiderstood  the  grandeur,  power,  and 
glory  of  the  great  Republic,  its  pos.sibilities,  certain  progress, 
growth,  and  expansion  in  trade  and  commerce. 

He  mastered  nearly  all  the  economical  and  political  problems 
that  affected  in  any  way  the  Union  and  the  whole  country. 
He  had  but  little  regard  for  foreign  things  and  foreign  coiui- 
tries,   and  ignored  their  claims  everywhere  and  whenever  in 


Sfa  flics  of  Thomas  II.  lion  ion  and  Francis  P.  Blair.     139 

conflict  with  those  of  the  I'nited  vStatcs.  l{si)eciall>-  was  he 
opposed  to  the  pretensions  and  claims  of  Great  Britain,  and 
constantly  fought  British  influence  on  this  continent.  His 
Americanism  was  intense,  and  his  love  of  the  Union,  with  its 
manifold  blessings  and  splendid  future,  so  clear  tcj  his  vision, 
was  his  grand  passion. 

In  a  .service  in  the  Senate  of  thirty  years,  covering  most 
exciting  times,  his  integrity  was  never  questioned.  Honesty  of 
purpose  characterized  all  of  his  official  acts.  He  was  satisfied 
to  be  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  and  never  tried  to  be 
President.  He  knew  that  many  leading  statesmen  had  been 
dwarfed  and  enfeebled  by  i:)andering  to  popular  favor  to  reach 
the  Presidency.  This  dementia  never  reached  Bentox;  there- 
fore he  was  always  able  to  act  up  to  his  convictions  and  follow 
his  best  judgment  on  all  public  questions.  His  public  life  and 
ser\'ices,  his  rectitude  and  .singleness  of  purpo.se,  his  un.selfish- 
ness,  as  well  as  his  perseverance  and  industry,  furnish  an 
example  and  pattern  worthy  of  imitation.  Taking  Benton  all 
in  all  during  his  thirty  years'  .service  in  the  Senate,  he  was  the 
most  important  factor  in  the  general  legislation  of  the  country. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  alike  honorable  and  creditable  to  the 
intelligence  and  fairness  of  the  people  of  Missouri,  tliat,  though 
a  slave-holding  State  and  favoring  strongly  the  cause  of  the 
South  in  the  civil  war,  its  legislature  should  have  voted  that 
Benton  and  Blair,  with  their  splendid  records  and  achieve- 
ments in  favor  of  the  Union  and  against  .secession  and  the 
extension  of  .slavery,  were  of  all  other  statesmen  most  de.ser\'- 
ing  to  have  a  place  in  the  Hall  of  great  and  famous  men  in  the 
nation's  Capitol. 


140     S/a  flics  of  TlioDias  //.  Benton  and  f ran  as  P.  Blair. 

C.EN.     FKAXCIS    P.     BLAIR 

Was  both  a  soldier  and  a  statesman;  his  name  and  fame  sheds 
hister  on  the  history  of  Missouri.  His  services  in  behalf  of  the 
Union  can  never  be  forgotten.  Through  his  abilit>-  and  prompt 
action  as  an  officer  of  the  Army  the  first  year  of  the  war  Mis- 
souri was  saved  to  Federal  control  and  authority  during  the' 
entire  war. 

For  his  splendid  services  in  behalf  of  his  vState  and  country, 
both  in  peace  and  war,  he  deserves  a  place  by  the  side  of 
Bkxton. 

.Mr.  CocKKKLi..  Mr.  President,  I  move  the  adoption  of  the 
concurrent  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  agreeing 
to  the  concurrent  resolution  of  the  Hou.se   of  Representatives. 

The  resolution  was  unanimoush-  agreed  to. 

O 


